Indigenous communities face harsher effects from wildfire smoke
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For Indigenous communities, it is the smoke, not flames, that accounts for the majority of wildfire-related evacuations. The toxic particles it contains, measured as particulate matter below 2.5 microns in diameter or PM 2.5, are small enough to enter the circulatory system and lower parts of the lungs, where they can cause irritation and exacerbate existing illnesses such as cardiovascular disease and autoimmune conditions. And in a summer of record blazes, this smoke is having a disproportionate effect on Indigenous communities, which already face higher levels of health disparities, have limited resources to fight wildfires and treat affected people and lack shelter that can keep out contaminated air.
“Indigenous people, not only in Canada but also globally, live in closest proximity to nature and, of course, with nature comes forest,” said Nicole Redvers, an associate professor at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry and an expert on the impact of forest fires in Indigenous communities. “It’s just unfortunately natural that when climate change affects nature, it’s going to affect Indigenous people the most.
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One problem with evacuating to neighbouring First Nation communities, Dr. Redvers said, is a lack of medical centres that could deal with health complications from wildfires.
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