Letting it Burn: Contesting ‘Value’ and Expertise in the Canadian Boreal Forest

• In Event: Flammable Futures: Encountering Combustion in a Changing Climate 1

Abstract

Over the last several decades, wildfire management in Northern Canada has become an important and controversial issue. In northern Boreal Forest regions of the province of Saskatchewan, wildfires are increasingly impacting the lives of the region’s primarily Indigenous (Dene, Métis, Rocky Cree, Swampy Cree, and Woodland Cree) residents. In the last 5 years, Northern lobbying and protest groups have formed as a response to the province’s so-called 'Let it Burn’ policy. Though not an official policy, the practice began in the early 2000s as a response to environmental concerns associated with centuries of fire suppression, and involves allowing wildfires to burn until they approach something of social or economic ‘value’. Though framed by wildfire managers as a measure necessary for promoting northern ‘sustainability’, many locals argue that the policy is a direct affront to Indigenous sovereignty, leading to increased community evacuations, loss of territory, and routine smoke exposure. While numerous studies have focused on the effects of wildfire management practices on Northern Indigenous communities, this paper ‘studies up’, examining the contemporary policies and practices that make up the province’s ‘Let it Burn’ policy. Through archival research and interviews with northern lobbyists and wildfire practitioners, I showcase how public controversies regarding wildfire management are often framed by settler governments and media as an issue of scientific versus Indigenous knowledge. Drawing on Indigenous and feminist STS, I argue against this (colonial) framing to showcase how local practitioners are actively engaged in efforts to create an anti-colonial risk management science.

Author

• Alex Zahara