Sponsors

Amy Cardinal Christianson, Indigenous Leadership Initiative, Canada

 

Short Biography: Dr. Amy Cardinal Christianson is Métis from Treaty 8 territory in northern Alberta, Canada. Her Métis relations are the Cardinal (Peeaysis Band) and Laboucane (Laboucane Settlement) families, who were nîhithawîwin (Woodland Cree) speaking. She now lives near Rocky Mountain House in Treaty 6 territory in central Alberta. She is the Senior Fire Advisor for the Indigenous Leadership Initiative and was formerly a Research Scientist with the Canadian Forest Service and an Indigenous Fire Specialist with Parks Canada. Her work focuses on Indigenous fire stewardship, including cultural burning, and she collaborates with Indigenous peoples in Canada on Indigenous fire guardians' programs and internationally on decolonizing land management. She also studies wildfire evacuations and advocates for Indigenous wildland firefighters. She is co-author of several books on Indigenous fire stewardship and co-hosts the Good Fire podcast. She also helped create the Thunderbird Collective and serves on several national and international boards including the International Association of Wildland Fire.

Short Summary: Amy will present the research-based rationale for transitioning from prioritizing global strategies to funding local action to tackle the escalating wildfire crisis. She will highlight the success of Indigenous Fire Guardian programs, where local people are employed by their communities to work in sustainable, year-round positions to create healthy, fire-adapted landscapes in their territories.