CPAWS Northern Alberta Chapter

Events

Beat the Winter Blues: Keep Your Advocacy Fired-up Year-Round

Mar 6, 2025 at 6:00 pm

CPAWS and the Edmonton Chapter of POW Canada are teaming up for a workshop that develops advocacy and civic engagement skills!

Engaging with social, environmental and civic issues is not something that we are explicitly taught how to do. There are plenty of environmental and climate issues to speak out on in Alberta but how do we go from dreaming of change, to making moves to be changemakers?

CPAWS Northern Alberta and the Edmonton Chapter of POW Canada are hosting a workshop that will highlight the importance of advocacy, the top environmental issues in Alberta, and how you can consistently and meaningfully engage past the initial wave of outrage.

This is for advocates of all levels! Whether you are just getting started, or you consider yourself to be a community organizer.

The workshop will include an overview of steps to contact your elected officials, and you will craft a script about a current issue. Once you have drafted your script, with the support and encouragement of fellow attendees and CPAWS and POW staff, you will put your script into action by emailing or calling your elected officials.

Speaking up about environmental and climate issues can be intimidating but it is important to remember that you do not need to be an expert to share your concerns and engage in meaningful dialogue.

This is a free event, please RSVP as space is limited. Light snacks and refreshments will be provided.

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Reuniting with Fire: Restoring Indigenous Fire Stewardship in Canada

Feb 18, 2025 at 12:00 pm

A Webinar on “Good Fire” with Dr. Amy Cardinal Christianson

Indigenous peoples across what is now Canada have utilized fire to steward their territories to achieve cultural objectives. Fire is integral to Indigenous cultures and is a process used to uphold responsibilities and kinship systems, which were maintained through a complex knowledge system. This relationship with fire has been nearly severed by colonization, through the disregard for Indigenous knowledge and fire exclusion.

Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in Indigenous fire and a growing recognition of the importance of cultural burning practices, particularly in relation to increasing biodiversity and providing nature-based climate solutions.

This free webinar co-hosted with CPAWS Southern Alberta will discuss Indigenous fire knowledge, impacts of cultural severance, and reunion with fire.

Biography 

Dr. Amy Cardinal Christianson is Métis and grew up in Treaty 8 territory (northern Alberta, Canada). She works as the Senior Fire Advisor for Indigenous Leadership Initiative, and was formerly a Research Scientist with the Canadian Forest Service (Natural Resources Canada) and an Indigenous Fire Specialist in the National Fire Management Division of Parks Canada. Christianson works with Indigenous Nations across Canada on fire stewardship practices like cultural burning and collaborates with Indigenous peoples from around the world on decolonising land management.

She also studies wildfire evacuations and advocates for Indigenous wildland firefighters. She is the co-author of the books, First Nations Wildfire Evacuations: A guide for communities and external agencies and Blazing the Trail: Celebrating Indigenous Fire Stewardship. Christianson also cohosts the Good Fire podcast, which looks at Indigenous fire use around the world. She serves as a member of the secretariat of the Thunderbird Collective, an advisor to the REDfire lab, a board member of the International Association of Wildland Fire and a member of the international research advisory panel with Natural Hazards Research Australia.

 

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