By Rochelle Baker, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer Danny Masuzumi Sr. shakes his head, recalling the jumble of emotions he experienced as a raging wildfire bore down on the remote K’ahsho Got’ine community of Fort Good Hope, NWT. A year ago, local leaders, other emergency personnel, Masuzumi and his team of Indigenous Guardians had to make a terrifying decision to evacuate with most of the community living alongside the east bank of the Mackenzie River — or stay and fight the fire along with territorial wildfire crews. They chose to stay. “We had no hoses, no pumps, no nothing,” said Masuzumi, executive director of the K’ahsho Got’ine Foundation that manages the protection of the community’s new Indigenous and Territorial Protected Area with the help of its Guardian team…
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