Thick wildfire smoke blankets the landscape near Water Valley, Alta., in May 2023. Evidence linking wildfire smoke with adverse health effects has been accumulating for years.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
The notion that wildfire smoke is ‘natural,’ and therefore less harmful than other types of air pollution, is not supported by the evidence. Wildfire smoke has been linked to adverse health effects.
Vehicles line-up for fuel at Fort Providence, N.W.T., on the only road south from Yellowknife, Aug. 17, 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Social media has been vital for disseminating information during crises, but with Facebook’s ban of news in Canada, old-school media, especially radio, is critically important.
Smoke from the McDougall Creek wildfire nearly blocks out the sun in Kelowna, B.C. on Aug. 18, 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
The devastating wildfire that destroyed the historic Maui town of Lahaina was still making headlines when Yellowknife issued an evacuation order.
People without vehicles line up in Yellowknife to register for a flight to Alberta; residents were ordered to evacuate the area because of encroaching wildfire.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Bill Braden
As the mass evacuation of Yellowknife unfolds, the needs of minority populations will emerge. Past experiences indicate emergency officials may not be ready to meet the needs of a diverse population.
Smoke rising from an active fire in the Northwest Territories.
(Sander Veraverbeke)
Zombie fires smoulder through the winter and reignite in the early spring. How these fires behave is not well understood, but they can contribute to an earlier and longer fire season.
Voting silences voices. Listening deeply to people in your group leads to more robust and better decisions.
(Shutterstock)
In formal consensus decision-making, no proposal is adopted until every concern is heard, understood and addressed. Here’s how it can work.
Establishing Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, like the Thaidene Nëné National Park Reserve in the Northwest Territories, while respecting original treaties can help Canada meet its international conservation commitments.
(Iris Catholique)
To address the climate and biodiversity crises, we must stop criminalizing Indigenous Peoples for exercising their treaty rights and start upholding them instead.
A miner is silhouetted as he passes through a doorway in a mine shaft 100 feet below the surface at the Giant Mine near Yellowknife, N.W.T. in July, 2003.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
In today’s episode, we hear from two women who talk about how diamond mines in the Northwest Territories have negatively impacted women and girls and perpetuated gender violence.
A woman examines a diamond she is in the process of cutting and polishing in Yellowknife, N.W.T. in a photo from 2003.
(CP PHOTO/Bob Weber)
While marketing has made diamond rings a symbol of heteronormative happy endings, women from the Northwest Territories tell a different story about their experiences with the diamond mines.
Arctic char dries in the sun in Gjoa Haven, Nunavut.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
The Arctic and sub-Arctic regions are no longer exempt of industrial contamination. Researchers have found high blood levels of potentially harmful chemicals in people living in the North.
The beach at Port Radium, where uranium ore used to be loaded onto barges for shipment. The townsite for the mine used to stand on the pit of land on the right.
CP PHOTO/Bob Weber
Seventy-five years after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the people of Délı̨nę remain affected by Canada’s role in the attack. A documentary presents their stories.
Despite chronic housing need and persistent health and infrastructural inequities, northern communities are turning to the land and each other to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Indigenous knowledge is an essential asset in the adaptation to climate change. Image of a remote community in Nunavik, where resources are limited.
(Mylène Ratelle)
Although marginalized from policy decisions, northern Indigenous communities have maintained and developed strong social networks to help them cope with climate change.
A storm blows over the Tsá Tué Biosphere Reserve.
UNESCO/Destination Délįnę
A holistic approach to conservation finds people have a place in the natural world and a responsibility to maintain it.
Edéhzhíe is located in the Dehcho region of the Northwest Territories. It is the first Indigenous protected area designated in Canada.
Government of Northwest Territories
Historical gold mining at the Giant Mine near Yellowknife, N.W.T. released toxic arsenic into the environment. Snowshoe hares are showing signs of poisoning.