Indigenous fire practitioners are rebuilding the use of low-intensity cultural burns as Canada looks for ways to reduce catastrophic wildfire risk and restore fire-adapted landscapes

THUNDER BAY – NEWS – Often called good fire, cultural burning uses carefully planned fire under the leadership of Indigenous communities. It can clear dead vegetation, renew food and medicine plants, improve habitat and reduce the fuel available to a later wildfire. The goals and methods are rooted in the laws, knowledge and responsibilities of each Nation.

Cultural burning is not simply another name for an agency-led prescribed fire. Parks Canada describes cultural burning as Indigenous-led and guided by Indigenous knowledge and cultural objectives, while prescribed burning is generally directed by an agency for hazard reduction or ecological goals. The two approaches can overlap, but they are not interchangeable.

Policy is beginning to shift. An Ontario regulation that took effect this year allows an Indigenous community to conduct a ceremonial or cultural fire in its traditional or treaty area during fire season without a provincial fire permit if the community notifies the ministry at least 24 hours in advance. Restrictions can still apply in a restricted fire zone or under another emergency order.

British Columbia says cultural and prescribed fire is a core part of its forest-management toolkit. The province has changed its wildfire law and regulation to support agreements with Indigenous governing bodies and to let wildfire staff assist First Nations with burning projects when asked. Its 2026 planning page listed 144 cultural or prescribed burns, all dependent on safe weather and site conditions.

A Senate agriculture and forestry committee report released in June called Canada’s wildfire crisis catastrophic and escalating. It identified cultural and prescribed burning, fuel management, FireSmart work and resilient infrastructure as part of a broader prevention strategy. The Senate requested a detailed federal response.

The case for more prevention is national. Provinces and territories manage most wildland fire response, while the federal government has roles in national parks, on federal lands, in research, emergency support and services for First Nations. That split can make long-term funding, liability, training and approvals uneven across the country.

Cultural burns still carry risk and require the right weather, preparation, crews and local authority. Practitioners also caution that governments should not take the technique while excluding the communities whose knowledge and relationships make it cultural burning.

The next test is whether public support becomes stable, Indigenous-led capacity rather than short-term pilot projects. Federal, provincial and territorial governments will face that question as they respond to the Senate report and prepare for the 2027 fire season.

Source notes

Ontario Regulation 43/26, Wildland Fire Management – Current law accessed Nov. 9, 2026. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/260043