KarunaNews Story

On The Blood 148 reserve, the Kainai Nation is creating the first fire guardians program in Canada. “Our culture is being threatened — not just by colonial aspects, but invasive species, climate change — and we’re trying to figure out ways to reignite those cultural pathways,” says Alvin First Rider, Kainai’s environmental manager. The fire crew at Waterton Lakes National Park, which is on traditional Blackfoot territory and borders the Blood reserve, have been helping with development of a fire guardians program and helped First Rider and Kainai do their first two burns in the Blood Tribe Timber Limits, 1,940 hectares near Waterton managed by the tribe for cultural use. Cultural burns were once banned across Canada.