Alex Zahara
Project Facilitator of the Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) Wildfire Resilience Initiative
Alex Zahara (he/him) is Project Facilitator of the Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) Wildfire Resilience Initiative, conducted through PAGC Forestry and Emergency Protective Services. The Initiative began in 2021 with an Elders Gathering on wildfire and has continued through 2022 through the hiring and training of 10 youth Community Researchers from different PAGC member First Nations. Zahara is an interdisciplinary researcher and wildfire social scientist interested in mobilizing Science and Technology Studies, feminist, queer and anti-colonial theory within wildfire response. As a non-Indigenous researcher, his work aims to ensure wildfire science and response upholds sovereignty of Indigenous Nations to their lands and livelihoods.
Zahara has been trained as a Type 3 firefighter and was a member of Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research (CLEAR), a community-driven anti-colonial science lab from 2016-2022. From 2018 to 2022 he was collaborating editor of the academic blog Discard Studies. Zahara is completing his doctoral dissertation on wildfire response in northern Saskatchewan through Memorial University in Newfoundland. He currently lives in his home community of kistapinānihk or Prince Albert, Saskatchewan in Treaty 6 territory, the homeland of Dakota Oyáte and Métis Nation.
