August 31, 2026
FOREST FIRES AND WILDFIRES have particular impacts on First Nations people, Métis, and Inuit, write the authors of the Statistics Canada paper, “Wildfire experiences among Indigenous Peoples,” published July 28, 2026.
Those effects include financial hardship, emotional distress, and disruption of traditional ways of life, cultural practices, and access to traditional activities such as hunting, fishing, trapping, and gathering, write the authors of the descriptive analysis.
The top three short-term impacts were evacuation, inability to use local roads or transportation, and loss of access to electricity. The top long-term impact was the inability to hunt, fish, trap, or gather wild plants.
Serious health risks of wildfire smoke—respiratory and cardiovascular problems, including asthma attacks, chronic bronchitis, heart attacks, and even lung cancer—“can be more pronounced among Indigenous populations because of disproportionate exposure and longstanding systemic inequities,” the authors write.
From the paper’s introduction: “Despite being the original stewards of the land, Indigenous Peoples have historically been excluded from decision making in forest management in Canada. Only recently have their traditional fire stewardship practices begun to receive recognition (PHAC, 2024).”
Table 1, “Highest proportion of area burned by wildfire in 2023, by census subdivision and 2021 population by Indigenous identity, Canada,” ranks the top 15 census subdivisions by the proportion of area burned relative to the total area of the census subdivision and presents population data by Indigenous identity. Chum Creek 2 reserve in Kamloops had the highest proportion (91%) of area burned and had a population of 20 First Nations people.
Table 2, “Burned area for the top five census subdivisions with the largest Indigenous population in 2021, by Indigenous identity, Canada, 2023,” shows the census subdivisions with the largest populations by Indigenous identity that were impacted by wildfires in 2023.
The paper “integrates results from the 2024 Survey Series on First Nations People off reserve, Métis and Inuit – Emergency Preparedness and Extreme Weather (SSFNPMI-EPEW) and the 2021 Census Indigenous population data, along with spatial data on forest fires, wildfires and air quality from 2023.” The authors list the main data sources on this web page.
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We acknowledge that the land on which we work is the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.