Joe Alphonse and Jocelyn Stacey: 2017 wildfires spotlight jurisdictional conflicts with First Nations

In 2017, the Tŝilhqot’in Nation watched its territory burn in a record-breaking summer of wildfires. Over 65,000 people in B.C. were displaced, including many Tŝilhqot’in citizens. For more than two months, Tŝilhqot’in fire crews fought alongside provincial wildfire crews and firefighters from around the world.
But the Tŝilhqot’in Nation did more than this. It exercised its jurisdiction to protect its communities and its territory — a swath o