Forest fires and wildfires now posing concerns in parts of Canada highlight the complicated relationship people have with fire, says the co-author of a new University of Waterloo study that indicates Indigenous fire practices can actually help fight them. The study… looks at Indigenous fire stewardship — setting fires at specific times of the year and locations for various reasons. …The research reviewed other studies and reports, from 1900 to today, on cultural burning by Indigenous people. …The lead author is Kira Hoffman, a recent postdoctoral fellow in the University of Waterloo’s faculty of environment, and now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia’s faculty of forestry and The Bulkley Valley Research Centre. …Hoffman said her next research will focus on why there are barriers to cultural burning in Canada and she’ll “look to other regions where cultural burning is being revitalized.”