Good Fire Podcast by Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff

Stories of Indigenous fire stewardship, cultural and social empowerment and environmental integrity

Episode highlight

Join Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff as they give a sneak peek at what to expect in Good Fire’s third season.

Resources

Canada’s record-breaking wildfires in 2023: A fiery wake-up call

Intentional Fire Podcast by Vikki Preston

Sponsors

The Canadian Partnership for Wildland Fire Science

Quotes

12.20 - 12.35: “We can’t change the weather… and we can’t change the climate at the moment, but there are things that we can do and one of those is changing the fuel that’s available to burn and the vegetation that you can burn… and one of the ways to do that is through good fire.”

Takeaways

Women are the backbone of good fire (01.36)

Amy wants to focus the third season of the Good Fire podcast on matriarchs. After attending an Indigenous Women’s fire training event in the USA, she was inspired to see 30 women come together from different First Nations to deliberate how fire affects their communities. An Elder shared with her that the women in a community direct the men to go out and burn.

Burns, burning and burnout (04.56)

Amy is a Research Scientist with the Canadian Forest Service but has recently been on secondment with Parks Canada as an Indigenous Fire Specialist. This year has seen unprecedented fires across Canada. Canada has depended on help from other countries, and firefighters are feeling burnt out.

15.2 million hectares in Canada burnt this year (08.28)

Amy hopes that practicing good fire will alleviate the strain on firefighting and reduce their risk on the job. She highlighted that years of fire exclusion have led to runaway wildfires.

An opportunity for a reset (13.17)

Amy highlights that even though fires were frequent before this land was colonized, tree rings indicate they were not as intense as they are now. Elder Joe Gilchrist shared with Amy that these wildfires are a good opportunity to reset overgrown forests for cultural burning.

Reducing the requirement of resilience (18.19)

Amy praises how the Chief and Council Little Red River Cree Nation and the community of Fox Lake have responded to the fires by building homes and supporting community members. However, she is saddened by the resilience they have had to show and hopes to see progress in external fire management.

Guest wish list (23.20)

Amy hopes to have Vikki Preston on the podcast, but her community is also impacted by the fire. Her podcast, Intentional Fire invites guests from Vikki’s Nation to talk about how they use good fire.

Indigenous stewardship (24.46)

Amy believes that Indigenous knowledge keepers needn’t seek permission to perform cultural burning on their lands. She pushes for policies and regulations to be re-examined so that land can be cared for in a way that is in line with Indigenous knowledge.

Good Fire Podcast by Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff

Stories of Indigenous fire stewardship, cultural empowerment and environmental integrity

The Abundance Will Be Forever with Victor Steffensen and Ado Webster

Episode highlight

In this podcast, Victor Steffensen and Ado Webster reflect on their experiences as Indigenous fire-keepers.

Resources

Fire Country: How Indigenous Fire Management Could Help Save Australia by Victor Steffensen

Victor and Ado’s Bios

Looking After Country with Fire: Aboriginal Burning Knowledge With Uncle Kuu

Great Land by Mulong

Sponsors

The Canadian Partnership for Wildland Fire Science

Support from:

●       California Indian Water Commission

●       Firesticks Alliance Indigenous Corporation

Quotes

10.52 - 10.56: “We’re not governed by anyone but ourselves and by our culture and by our country.”

Takeaways

Rediscovering culture, discovering oneself (3.55)

Ado has recently begun working with Firesticks in the capacity of an employee, and loves working in an Aboriginal cultural environment where “the knowledge is safe, the sharing is safe and people are safe”.

For the landscape and the people (9.00)

Ado thrives on the cultural exchange that takes place between Nations as part of his work now, something colonization deprived his community of. He is passionate about helping children access culture freely.

Work that heals (14.40)

Victor notes that working with the country helps liberate Aboriginal peoples from stereotypes that they are not hardworking. Work that heals the land for the future inspires youth to do the right thing to enhance their connection with the land.

“Climate change is mother nature telling us to change” (19.17)

Victor laments that the negative messaging in the media makes us feel helpless against climate change. He brings attention to the disasters humans have lived through, and that this can also be salvaged by “doing the good work”.

When you care for the country, it cares back (28.23)

Ado reassures that cultural burning is safe, which is why many go barefoot for a cultural burn. He feels a sense of oneness with all inhabitants of the land, and disagrees with preferential protective equipment for humans but not for the other animals.

Fire, language and country (33.11)

Ado narrates how Victor demonstrated to Ado’s Nation, his knowledge of the land that applies across different territories. Victor adds that landscapes have many similarities in values, and bringing the country back is the missing piece in reviving cultural knowledge. 

Let us do it our way (38.48)

Ado speaks about the National Indigenous Fire Workshop they conducted for nations across Australia, where they did a cultural burn which lasted 13 days. Not having burned due to colonization has changed the landscape, and is causing sickness in the forests. 

The whole world gets affected (47.33)

Ado says that knowledge opens up minds with the truth but it makes it more difficult to tolerate the wrong things being done. Everyone was impacted by the large bushfires in Australia, and he feels strongly about people experiencing the benefits of cultural burning.

Send in your comments and feedback to the hosts of this podcast: amy.christianson@pc.gc.ca and yourforestpodcast@gmail.com.

Episode highlight

In this podcast, Victor Steffenson and Ado Webster talk about cultural burning in Australia and the work Firesticks is doing to promote it.

Resources

Fire Country: How Indigenous Fire Management Could Help Save Australia by Victor Steffensen

Looking After Country with Fire: Aboriginal Burning Knowledge With Uncle Kuu

by Victor and Sandra Steffensen

Cool Burning

Sponsors

The Canadian Partnership for Wildland Fire Science

Support from:

● California Indian Water Commission

● Firesticks Alliance Indigenous Corporation

Quotes

17.02 - 17.09: “Fear is… one of the biggest problems… in the world today and… a lot of that comes from ignorance.”

Takeaways

Ado and Victor (6.10)

Adrian, known as Ado, was born in Naora (Nowra) and considers himself fortunate to have grown up in his community and culture. Victor, a descendant of the Tagalaka clan from North Queensland, is the Lead Fire Practitioner at Firesticks, a filmmaker, musician and author.

Baby steps to progress (9.14)

Victor wrote a children’s book as a way of getting back to the arts using storytelling to reactivate culture and landscape connections and change society while having fun.

Listen to the country (16.58)

Victor finds it alarming that people fear fire, but takes solace in Indigenous knowledge, which focuses on the right way of doing things and provides a positive solution. Ado’s father realized that forests were deteriorating because Indigenous peoples had not been allowed to manage them.

“Learning not through science, but through spirit” (24.10)

Ado has learnt from his Elders about nature and realizes that this knowledge is only recently being discovered by non-Indigenous people.

“Fire is good for us as people” (33.40)

Victor notes that the insights of the Indigenous cultures are shifting the culture of the country as a whole, evolving into a nature-based one, where people can move from fear of fire to a connection to the land.

Fire and sustainability (39.50)

Victor and his team are working on creating a training model leading to a certified diploma to factor in lived experience for those who can demonstrate and manage the work practically.

“We need to work together” (50.24)

Victor believes that the work they have been doing in education to further cultural, environmental and economic development has been supported by Mother Nature. It has also made the country take notice of the work the Aboriginal peoples are doing, and recognize the need to support this work.

“It’s all about doing the right thing” (54.43)

Victor recommends being inclusive, making people comfortable and respecting them and their place to work together towards sustainability. He urges people to take action towards nature, and not be limited by barriers of time or money.

Send in your comments and feedback to the hosts of this podcast via email: amy.christianson@pc.gc.ca and yourforestpodcast@gmail.com.