Contemporary evacuation responses in a Northern Saskatchewan Cree community: the residential school analogy

Abstract

In this article, we chronicle the experiences of a northern Cree community in Canada which undergoes an emergency evacuation due to threat by wildfire. Forced to leave their community under short notice as the fire encroached, individuals were triaged for “risk” and removed sequentially to different communities and temporary facilities. The process of evacuation prompts comparison with earlier processes of the forced removal of children to residential schools. The analogy is based on two experiential domains. First, families were fractured, with members being separated. Elders were placed in lodging apart from other family members, and in some case family members were sent to different towns. Second, the residents experienced a loss of agency in all aspects of the evacuation, from declaring the emergency to governing themselves in evacuation centers. We argue that disaster response policy as it pertains to Indigenous communities must embrace an acute awareness of the consequences of state oppression and forced assimilation, assumed to be only historical, that shape experiences involving emergency intervention by contemporary state authorities. Rather than replicating these historical processes, evacuations represent opportunities to engage with Indigenous knowledge and experience to ensure local needs are met in ways that are culturally and experientially safe.

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©2024 Society for Applied Anthropology

Implications

1. Policies and procedures for community evacuations should be community-driven in the case of Indigenous communities, not top-down from national or international governmental or aid agencies

2. Understanding and recognising the role of historical processes that have shaped state-Indigenous relations are essential to the development of Indigenous-appropriate disaster response

3. “Risk” and “vulnerability” should be understood as situated and contextual, and evacuation processes should not assume their universality.

4. Community evacuation must be understood as a diachronic process, linking past with present experiences, including an understanding that removal from harm’s way is only one stage in the evacuation process characterized by on-going and emergent threats and harms.

Social Media Statement

Study shows how previous residential school experiences shape contemporary Indigenous responses to community wildfire evacuations in northern Canada.

Keywords:

• Canada
• Cree
• evacuation
• residential schools
• wildfire

Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the assistance provided by Richard Kent (formerly of the Prince Albert Grand Council), and Rob Ferland and former Chief of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, Peter Beatty. The residents of Pelican Narrows were most welcoming and their participation in this research is deeply appreciated.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this research was provided to James B. Waldram by the University of Saskatchewan, through a President’s SSHRC Grant. The Northern Studies Training Program at the University of Saskatchewan provided additional funding for Megan Poole. The Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation and Pelican Narrows community provided housing and other in-kind supports for the community research component. The project received approval by the Chief and Council of Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, the Pelican Narrows representatives to this organization, and the Prince Albert Grand Council. Ethics approval was also provided by the Research Ethics Board of the University of Saskatchewan, Certificate Number 12-42.

Notes on contributors

James B. Waldram

James B. Waldram is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of Saskatchewan. Trained in applied medical anthropology, his research interests include the impacts of population displacement, and Indigenous health and healing. His most recent book is An Imperative to Cure: Principles and Practices of Q’eqchi’ Maya Medicine in Belize (2020, University of New Mexico Press).

Megan Poole

Megan Poole is a Medical Anthropologist working as a Policy Analyst for the Federal Government of Canada. She has conducted research through several academic institutions focusing on Indigenous Canadians, aging, public policy, and the medical and social surveillance of women’s bodies.

John Merasty

John Merasty is a Cree Elder and member of the Pelican Narrows community of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation in Saskatchewan.