It was in the early hours of a Sunday morning that the first round of Pikangikum trainees gathered at the Pikangikum airport, ready to fly out for a week of firefighter training. The final destination was Fin and Feather lodge, which would serve as a classroom and a home away from home for the next 7 days. Against the backdrop of the beautiful Eagle River, the trainees were excited and ready to get certified as top-notch Type II firefighters that can protect their ancestral lands.
Over the past few years, intense forest fires have become all too common during the hot and dry summers in the Whitefeather Forest. Many in the community have had to evacuate in both 2019 and 2021 under pressure from smoke and oncoming forest fires. Pikangikum people, however, have a long history of Indigenous fire stewardship. They have worked on fires as Crew Bosses, leading teams in their own language (Ojibwe) to manage fire. They have also integrated their knowledge of cultural burning into both fire and fuel management on the landscape.
The community is once again taking matters into their own hands. They are making strides to care for their forest by training crews consisting primarily of youth from the nation. With financial support from NRCAN and a strategic partnership with Outland-Dexterra and their partners, the Whitefeather Forest Initiative is training 144 forest firefighters from Pikangikum First Nation that can be deployed to work in the nation’s ancestral forests and beyond. The goal of this project is to provide training and employment opportunities for Pikangikum youth in natural resources, to build forest fire resilient landscapes, and to reduce Canada’s historical dependence on international firefighters given that Canada
imported hundreds of individuals to fight fires in 2023.
Training cohorts of Type 2 forest firefighters in partnership with a Type 2 contract holder like Outland-Dexterra is the first step to addressing this issue. Like our trainees, these Type 2 firefighters learn how to safely mange fire behaviour and use all the tools at their disposal to fight fire effectively. For example, trainees learn to work with helicopters and how to signal pilots using hand signals for communicating key information like dropping supplies in the bush.
Trainees also learn to maintain and safely operate chainsaws and how to clear an area and fell trees. A superstar team of instructors deliver this hands-on session. After donning their safety gear, trainees split up into groups of four to practice cutting notches and identifying proper hinges. It was only after successfully demonstrating their competence that the trainees received their certificates.
During the 7-day period, trainees were also trained in Standard First Aid, CPR and WHMIS. Even with all this training packed into a short time, trainees found the time to unwind in the evenings with games like Jenga and setting up a pool tournament. Robert and Terry Keeper, owners of Fin and Feather lodge, hosted the trainees with excellent hospitality and delicious meals to keep everyone powered up throughout the long and intense days.
This was just the first cohort, and we are excited for the future cohorts that will join us over
the next few seasons! If you have questions or would like to sign up for training, please reach out to fire@whitefeatherforest.ca.
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