There is a running joke in Canada that the country only has two seasons: winter and construction! Although that may feel true, more recently it has felt that as soon as winter is over, wildfire season begins. There have been calls for the government (both within and outside of the country) to be more proactive in preventing and responding to wildfires. 

I am not here to make a case for the government. But to put into perspective just how big of a challenge this is: “Canada’s total area of 9,984,670km² makes it the second-largest country in the world and the largest nation in North America . . . . For a country so large, Canada’s population is tiny. The UN estimates that Canada has a population of just 38.7 million.” Yet tens of thousands of people have already been evacuated from their homes this year due to the wildfires and thousands more have been advised to remain ready for evacuation if needed. The fires have also claimed a life: “An 80-year-old woman [who] died while fleeing.”

There have been other tragic outcomes due to the wildfires. These events are certainly traumatic for those that experience having to leave everything they’ve known and own behind, including their community. Despite this, some responses from United States politicians (and their supporters) have missed the mark. Instead of responding with support and empathy towards the victims of these tragic events, or offering resources to get the wildfires under control, some Americans have suggested that Canadians should pay the U.S. “reparations” owing to the smoke the wildfires have produced that has blown down past the Canadian border.

In contrast, “100 firefighters arriv[ed] from Mexico to start Tuesday morning” with getting the wildfires under control in Canada. And yes, governments should be held accountable for their management of resources and response to any crisis, but it was precisely this point that got me thinking. Perhaps it is the Canadian government’s (and the U.S.’s) own flaws in their founding and values that set them up with this conundrum in the first place. Below are five things to consider and ponder on this topic. I also invite you to wrestle with our own worldview, hermeneutics and faith.

1. Colonialism and Genesis 1:28

Countries like Canada that remain in the Commonwealth have a long history of colonization. Canada, just like the U.S., was born out of the British Empire, a self-proclaimed Christian (Anglican) government. Although colonialism is not exclusively Anglican, or even Christian, it has strongly been tied to Christianity. “God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” This verse has been interpreted for millennia as meaning to take full control of the land and living things in it. But with great power comes great responsibility.

2. The stewards of the land

Before the land became known as Canada, the native people of North America knew it as Turtle Island. “Since time immemorial, Indigenous Peoples have served as the stewards of the land and thus carry vital wisdom shared through traditional teachings from one generation to the next. This wisdom, rooted in deep reverence for nature and interconnectedness, offers invaluable insights into living in harmony with Mother Earth and each other.” Nevertheless, for centuries, the government of Canada had a cultural genocidal campaign against Indigenous cultures and people. Instead of looking to them for wisdom and guidance as to how to care for the land and its inhabitants, Indigenous peoples were put in reservations, residential schools and the foster care system where they were likely to lose their culture, language, suffer abuse and trauma and even lose their lives. Yet, “ . . . through storytelling, ceremony and a profound connection to ancestral lands, Indigenous communities have preserved invaluable knowledge that respectfully engages and guides us towards a more sustainable present and future.”

3. LandBack

You may have already heard of people calling for “land back.” I have seen people get very uncomfortable at the utterance of those words, particularly farmers who own larger pieces of land than the average person. Yet, the phrase refers to an “Indigenous-led, spiritually grounded, organizing, and narrative framework from which [to] work toward collective liberation. It is the way [to] reclaim [the] right to restore, uphold, and protect [the] symbiotic and just relationships with Mother Earth, all forms of life, and each other. It is about achieving embodied sovereignty that heals the destruction of generations of colonial violence against Mother Earth, women, two spirit relatives, and all peoples who have been exploited and systemically oppressed by unsustainable systems rooted in violent supremacist ideologies.” Therefore, according to its website, the movement is less about taking land from home owners and farmers, and more about restoring Indigenous people’s ability to reclaim “ . . . everything that has been taken by colonization. LANDBACK is about exercising sovereignty and self-determination to become the people who the land wants and needs.”

4. Christian supremacy

Verses like the one in Genesis have been used to excuse things like colonialism and in particular Christian supremacy, which is the idea that Christianity (and therefore Christians) are superior to other peoples and deserve control or are entitled to power. When I hear most self-proclaimed  “Christian” politicians in the U.S. (and Canada) speak, it sounds more like Christian supremacy than someone that I would expect would be what I would call a “Jesus follower.” Furthermore, when I read the stated goals of the LandBack movement and the ways that Indigenous people honored the land, thanking the creator for providing everything necessary for life on this Earth, it seems to me that they would be more in congruence with “Christian” values I would adhere to.

5. Hermeneutics

“Hermeneutics plays a role in a number of disciplines whose subject matter demands interpretative approaches, characteristically, because the disciplinary subject matter concerns the meaning of human intentions, beliefs, and actions, or the meaning of human experience as it is preserved in the arts and literature, historical testimony, and other artifacts.” Although I know some people think that the Bible can be read literally, the reality is that it has been translated multiple times by the time one is reading it in English. Translation requires interpretation. Even if done through the Spirit, interpretation was done as some words do not exist in different languages; therefore, decisions of interpretation needed to be made. 

Hermeneutics plays an important role in trying to get at the meaning of the text, understanding that there are nuances when approaching a text that is old, translated and of a particular subject matter. Perhaps if more people were open to a hermeneutical approach to Scripture, we would have richer relationships with Indigenous people and wiser plans and systems of how to take care of our land. We would be more empathetic and humble as Christians when approaching others.