By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Growing up in the bush in the mountains around snpink’tn (Penticton) in syilx Okanagan territories, Charles Kruger’s family taught him how to start fires when he was no older than five. “Being able to start a fire really young was crucial,” said Kruger, who is of syilx Okanagan and Sinixt ancestry. “Because we live off the land — deer, moose, elk, grouse, stuff like that — being able to start a fire in the rain, in the snow, is super important. That’s a skill in itself.” Kruger comes from a long line of hereditary fire chiefs, stretching back “many hundreds of years,” he said. “My grandma would be the one to tell everybody when to burn. She was the fire-keeper, I guess…
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