Racialised and Colonial Constructions of Climate Disaster: News Media Framing of Indigenous Wildfire Evacuations in Western Canada

Abstract

Environmental disasters disproportionately impact Indigenous peoples worldwide. In Canada, wildfires and flooding increasingly threaten First Nations communities, prompting frequent evacuations to urban areas. Housed for months and sometimes even years in marginal inner-city hotels and temporary housing, evacuees face a range of negative health and social outcomes and are subject to heightened securitization and stereotyping by authorities and local media. This article presents the findings of a qualitative and comparative analysis of media framing of wildfire evacuations in Jasper, Alberta and in Manitoba First Nations communities. Compared to the non-Indigenous community, Indigenous evacuees were framed negatively as a threat to the safety and prosperity of the city. News framing amplified colonial and racialized stereotypes while ignoring the root causes of frequent evacuations. Media framing works in tandem with government policies to perpetuate the slow violence of colonialism and environmental disaster while positioning Indigenous peoples outside the imagined Canadian community.