Indigenous Firefighters Battling Fort McMurray Blaze Follow Long Alberta Tradition
Bruce Cunningham worked an office job last winter, but his thoughts were never far from the dense northern Alberta forest: He missed the trees and wildlife, the feeling of being out on the land with his friends and family, of protecting the land from fire.
“The wildland is our home. That’s where we were born, that’s where we were raised. We feel the need that we have to protect it because it is our land, after all,” said Mr. Cunningham, a firefighter from the East Prairie Métis Settlement in northern Alberta. “It’s like nature to us, being out there, right?”
