In early July, in northern Quebec, fierce wildfires caused by arid conditions decimated large swaths of spruce forest, cabins, and tourist camps. The fires also stopped the only highway leading to the camps of many Indigenous people, cutting them off their only means of escape.
Even before evacuation orders were issued, any of the unfortunate residents who tried to evacuate using Billy Diamond Highway were met with a combination of flames, smoke, and ash.
“I honestly wasn’t sure we’d make it out,” said Joshua Iserhoff, 45, a member of the Cree nation of Nemaska who had to find another route in order to safely evacuate himself, his wife, and two children. “The wind was so ferocious it almost picked up the vehicle,” he recalled. The journey to safety for his family was a long and traumatic drive.
Hundreds of Canadian wildfires have burned more than 47,000 square miles of forest-which is about the size of New York State. These burning monsters have forced more than 25,000 Indigenous residents from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, to evacuate. Wildfires are particularly bad news for the Indigenous people as they live near the frontlines of the fires. Therefore, many lives are lost in the scramble for safety.
Canada’s Department of Indigenous Services has spent around $55 million trying to fix the damage caused by the fires. On July 28, 2023, more than 1000 wildfires across Canada left trails of ash and smoke as they continued their rampage through forests. Unfortunately, around 600 of the fires were out of control, and forced many to flee. The Indigenous people that were forced to evacuate their beloved homeland had to sleep in hotels and gyms.
In July, eight of the nine Cree communities in Quebec, totaling about 21,000 people, were under total or partial evacuation orders. Some were airlifted by the Canadian Royal Air Force’s helicopters or other aerial vehicles. In some Cree communities, elders, young children and those with medical conditions had to travel by bus along hundreds of miles of gravel roads. On an 11-hour bus ride from Nemaska to Quebec City, William Wapachee, 79, who has lung cancer, started coughing and had trouble breathing. Before reaching the city, he was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital where he received oxygen. “I inhaled too much of that smoke,” said Mr. Wapachee. “Before, if we had fire, it was only in one place,” he added. “Now it seems to be a fire here, a fire there, fire everywhere.” Many Indigenous communities in the province are at risk as Quebec continues to have outbreaks which are more frequent in western Canada. “I’ve never seen that level of evacuation in Cree Nation, simultaneous communities all at once,” said Mandy Gull-Masty, who in 2021 became the first female elected as the grand chief of the Cree Nation in Quebec. “Never has that happened before.”
In June, the female chief was one of roughly 1,000 Waswanipi, an Indigenous community in northern Quebec who had to evacuate after being threatened by wildfires. She says that the Indigenous people are like climate refugees as they are constantly escaping and hiding from wildfires, and other natural disasters. While none of the Indigenous people have been killed by the fires yet, the wildfires do disrupt the culture of the people who are reliant on hunting and fishing for survival.
Kurtis Black, the fire chief in Nemaska, was recently surveying Indigenous firefighters applying water to smoldering hot spots that have repeatedly flared up along a gravel road that leads to the Billy Diamond Highway. “I don’t think these fires will stop until everything is burned,” Mr. Black said. “These fires are here to stay until fall gets here — or the snow.” On July 20, 2023, the fires temporarily stopped because it rained, but just three days later, the fires roared back to life, and filled the sky with an orange haze. Mr. Black called for the full evacuation of a Cree settlement that was located near the fires. Diane Amy Tanoush recorded a video as she and other Indigenous people who lived at the settlement loaded bags and coolers and put on masks for the long boat ride to a landing across a lake. She said that this was their fifth time evacuating. Thankfully, no Indigenous person has been killed by the fires yet.
Even before evacuation orders were issued, any of the unfortunate residents who tried to evacuate using Billy Diamond Highway were met with a combination of flames, smoke, and ash.
“I honestly wasn’t sure we’d make it out,” said Joshua Iserhoff, 45, a member of the Cree nation of Nemaska who had to find another route in order to safely evacuate himself, his wife, and two children. “The wind was so ferocious it almost picked up the vehicle,” he recalled. The journey to safety for his family was a long and traumatic drive.
Hundreds of Canadian wildfires have burned more than 47,000 square miles of forest-which is about the size of New York State. These burning monsters have forced more than 25,000 Indigenous residents from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, to evacuate. Wildfires are particularly bad news for the Indigenous people as they live near the frontlines of the fires. Therefore, many lives are lost in the scramble for safety.
Canada’s Department of Indigenous Services has spent around $55 million trying to fix the damage caused by the fires. On July 28, 2023, more than 1000 wildfires across Canada left trails of ash and smoke as they continued their rampage through forests. Unfortunately, around 600 of the fires were out of control, and forced many to flee. The Indigenous people that were forced to evacuate their beloved homeland had to sleep in hotels and gyms.
In July, eight of the nine Cree communities in Quebec, totaling about 21,000 people, were under total or partial evacuation orders. Some were airlifted by the Canadian Royal Air Force’s helicopters or other aerial vehicles. In some Cree communities, elders, young children and those with medical conditions had to travel by bus along hundreds of miles of gravel roads. On an 11-hour bus ride from Nemaska to Quebec City, William Wapachee, 79, who has lung cancer, started coughing and had trouble breathing. Before reaching the city, he was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital where he received oxygen. “I inhaled too much of that smoke,” said Mr. Wapachee. “Before, if we had fire, it was only in one place,” he added. “Now it seems to be a fire here, a fire there, fire everywhere.” Many Indigenous communities in the province are at risk as Quebec continues to have outbreaks which are more frequent in western Canada. “I’ve never seen that level of evacuation in Cree Nation, simultaneous communities all at once,” said Mandy Gull-Masty, who in 2021 became the first female elected as the grand chief of the Cree Nation in Quebec. “Never has that happened before.”
In June, the female chief was one of roughly 1,000 Waswanipi, an Indigenous community in northern Quebec who had to evacuate after being threatened by wildfires. She says that the Indigenous people are like climate refugees as they are constantly escaping and hiding from wildfires, and other natural disasters. While none of the Indigenous people have been killed by the fires yet, the wildfires do disrupt the culture of the people who are reliant on hunting and fishing for survival.
Kurtis Black, the fire chief in Nemaska, was recently surveying Indigenous firefighters applying water to smoldering hot spots that have repeatedly flared up along a gravel road that leads to the Billy Diamond Highway. “I don’t think these fires will stop until everything is burned,” Mr. Black said. “These fires are here to stay until fall gets here — or the snow.” On July 20, 2023, the fires temporarily stopped because it rained, but just three days later, the fires roared back to life, and filled the sky with an orange haze. Mr. Black called for the full evacuation of a Cree settlement that was located near the fires. Diane Amy Tanoush recorded a video as she and other Indigenous people who lived at the settlement loaded bags and coolers and put on masks for the long boat ride to a landing across a lake. She said that this was their fifth time evacuating. Thankfully, no Indigenous person has been killed by the fires yet.
