First Nations lament cultural losses to B.C. wildfires

First Nations say British Columbia's most destructive wildfire season to date is having devastating impacts on their communities.

And not just on physical structures, but on culture and tradition.

By July 18 of this year, more than 14,000 square kilometres of land had already burned in B.C., which broke a record of just over 13,500 square kilometres in 2018.

One of the most significant fires up to July 18 was the Donnie Creek wildfire, the largest in the province's history. It was burning — and continues to burn — in northeast B.C., in the traditional territories of the Prophet River First Nation, Doig River First Nation and Blueberry River First Nations.

First Nations members say the cultural destruction from the Donnie Creek fire is impossible to quantify, and now similar loss is occurring due to fires burning in the Okanagan, Shuswap and Fraser Canyon.

"For our communities around the province, there's a long history, and some of those cultures have different cultural sites," said Vic Upshaw, fire specialist for the First Nations Emergency Services Society, in conversation with Gloria Macarenko on CBC's The Early Edition on Wednesday.

"They were sacred places for ceremonies, some of them had structures. Some of our ancestors are buried there in different cultural ways. And so when the wildfires come in, these things are susceptible to the damage from the impacts, and some of them could be destroyed and removed forever and lost to time."

Donnie Creek fire was 'catastrophic'

Timber Bigfoot, land and environment manager for Prophet River First Nation, told CBC in late June the Donnie Creek fire was "catastrophic" in terms of the physical and cultural destruction it caused.

Bigfoot said the flames destroyed trappers' cabins, trap lines, hunting and fishing grounds, burial grounds, archaeological sites, traditional trails and rare diamond willow used for ceremonial smudging. 

Berry stocks and countless animals — including beaver, wolves, moose and elk — were also lost to the flames.

"We're very close to the animals, and it's very heartbreaking to know that not only is their forest gone, but that many animals have lost their lives, and to know those animals suffered," Bigfoot said.

Okanagan, Shuswap and Fraser Canyon fires all impacting First Nations

In the Okanagan region, the Westbank First Nation is currently dealing with the fallout of the McDougall Creek fire that tore through West Kelowna last week.

In the Shuswap right now, one of the most concerning fires is the Bush Creek East fire. On Tuesday, the Columbia Shuswap Regional District confirmed the fire has forced the evacuation of 11,000 people, and that includes members of the Adams Lake Indian Band.

And in the Fraser Canyon, the Lytton First Nation is on edge for the third time in three years because of wildfire activity, this time due to the Stein Mountain fire, which resulted in the evacuation of multiple reserves within the Nation on Tuesday.

Cultural and prescribed burning seen as important

Wildfire activity in this record-breaking season has the B.C. First Nations Forestry Council looking at a number of steps to mitigate wildfire damage — and that loss of culture and tradition — moving forward.

Lennard Joe, CEO of the organization, told CBC the first of those steps is incorporating cultural and prescribed burning back into forest management, which would allow for better protection of land, medicines and food.

"I think the second is how we're working on the post-wildfires — the recovery side of things — and through that also looking at what has been impacted and what work needs to be done," Joe said.

Joe said work to develop policies and legislation that incorporate First Nations culture, values and laws must be done through "one-on-one collaborations" between First Nations governments and the provincial government.

"The situation that we're in right now, and the environment that we're in right now, is something that we've never seen before," Joe said.

"And we're starting to recognize that it's going to take everybody to work together."