{"id":80688,"date":"2024-03-28T08:28:52","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T12:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=80688"},"modified":"2024-03-28T08:28:52","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T12:28:52","slug":"what-it-means-to-lead-through-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/28\/what-it-means-to-lead-through-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"What it means to lead through fire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Matteo Cimellaro \u00a0Local Journalism Initiative Reporter James Tomma was done with politics and wasn&#8217;t planning to run in the 2020 election. He told his supporters he was ready to walk away. But they told him to put up or shut up and urged him to be on the ballot. Somehow, he won. Now, two and a half years later, as Kukpi7 (Chief) of Skwl?x te Secwepemcul?ecw, Tomma is leading his community through a difficult journey of recovery from the worst wildfire disaster in band history. In August, the Bush Creek fire left devastation and displacement in its wake as it spread across the nation&#8217;s lands about 70 km east of Kamloops. Tomma is now in charge of a lengthy rebuilding process there. Nearby, Lytton First Nation is only now&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2024%2F03%2F28%2Fwhat-it-means-to-lead-through-fire%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Matteo Cimellaro \u00a0Local Journalism Initiative Reporter James Tomma was done with politics and wasn&#8217;t planning to run in the 2020 election. He told his supporters he was ready to walk away. But they told him to put up or shut up and urged him to be on the ballot. Somehow, he won. Now, two and a half years later, as Kukpi7 (Chief) of Skwl?x te Secwepemcul?ecw, Tomma is leading his community through a difficult journey of recovery from the worst wildfire disaster in band history. In August, the Bush Creek fire left devastation and displacement in its wake as it spread across the nation&#8217;s lands about 70 km east of Kamloops. Tomma is now in charge of a lengthy rebuilding process there. Nearby, Lytton First Nation is only now... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2024%2F03%2F28%2Fwhat-it-means-to-lead-through-fire%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What it means to lead through fire - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/28\/what-it-means-to-lead-through-fire\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What it means to lead through fire - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Matteo Cimellaro \u00a0Local Journalism Initiative Reporter James Tomma was done with politics and wasn&#8217;t planning to run in the 2020 election. He told his supporters he was ready to walk away. But they told him to put up or shut up and urged him to be on the ballot. Somehow, he won. Now, two and a half years later, as Kukpi7 (Chief) of Skwl?x te Secwepemcul?ecw, Tomma is leading his community through a difficult journey of recovery from the worst wildfire disaster in band history. In August, the Bush Creek fire left devastation and displacement in its wake as it spread across the nation&#8217;s lands about 70 km east of Kamloops. Tomma is now in charge of a lengthy rebuilding process there. 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