Alberta First Nation seeks more control over historic resources on lands

An Alberta First Nation in the province’s oil sands region is seeking more control over the footprints left by ancestors on their traditional lands.

“We would like to manage our historic resources,” said Shaun Janvier of the Chipewyan Prairie First Nation, which claims a large swath of land in northern Alberta as its territory.

“Archaeology is directly related to the natives of the area. It belongs to us.”

The Chipewyan Prairie is one of the first bands in Alberta to begin developing a cultural resource policy in an attempt to have more of a say in how artifacts and the places they come from are found, studied, preserved and displayed.

It’s a move that’s long overdue, said Kisha Supernant, director of the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archeology at the University of Alberta.

“It’s been almost 50 years since (the rules) were established and they haven’t been fundamentally revised. We are at a moment where they are now standing in the way of indigenous rights.”

In Alberta and most provinces, companies may be required to conduct a historical resource assessment before working on an undeveloped site. Such requirements are common in the oil sands region, considered to have one of the highest densities of archaeological sites in Canada.

In 2022, the province issued 209 authorizations for archaeological research. Most were issued before industrial development.

Consultants look for possible sites using modeling and past experience — a sunny hill overlooking a river or lake, for example, is a good place to look for ancient camps, kill sites or tool making.

Sometimes, consultation occurs.

But there are no legal requirements for the industry to ask First Nations in the area where to look. Sites are likely missed and destroyed as a result, Supernant said.

“I think that’s a consequence.”

If something is found, a government agency assesses its importance, determines to what extent (if any) it is excavated, and takes possession of the artifact.

Developers must contact the government, but Supernant said enforcement is so lax that those laws are sometimes ignored.

“There is no motivation to report,” she said. “I’ve heard from either community members or people who have been involved in a project that sometimes they were encouraged not to tell anyone if something was found because it was seen as a delay.”

A 2021 study by the Archaeological Survey of Alberta estimated that eight percent of pre-contact sites in the tar sands area were disturbed by “non-compliant” activities.

The industry is not required to contact First Nations if something is found, although some companies do.

Checking with local First Nations during a dig is also not required by law. Companies can hire local help, but it’s not the same, said Ave Dersch, an archaeologist who works with Chipewyan Prairie.

“(Local employees) have no authority and are just labor,” she wrote in an email. “They may or may not have indigenous knowledge of the site and may or may not choose to share it.

“Once the field work is over, they are no longer included.”

Eventually, all artifacts automatically become the property of the Crown and are sent to the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton.

“That’s why we need to co-manage our historic resources,” Janvier said. “Actually, they should consult with us.”

Also, there is more to indigenous archeology than pottery shards and arrowheads. Sometimes the place itself is the historical resource.

“That patch of blueberries would have fed my grandfather and my grandfather’s father, generation after generation,” Janvier said. “Even if the reclamation side of the process (of the industry) says they’re going to put the land back, it’s never the original.”

Garrett Koehler, spokesperson for Alberta Arts, Culture and Status of Women, said the government is revamping the way it manages historic resources in the province.

“The Government of Alberta is currently in the process of creating a new framework for the repatriation of non-sacred objects to Indigenous communities through the Royal Alberta Museum,” he said in an email. “The government made information about archaeological investigations and reports available to indigenous communities.”

Alberta has approximately 40,000 archaeological sites. No one expects them all to be fully excavated, and communities may not want them to be.

“I would like to see more emphasis on site avoidance — moving a pipeline a few feet so the site doesn’t need to be excavated at all,” Supernant said.

Janvier said the Chipewyan Prairie are just beginning to decide how they want to contribute to efforts to understand where and how their ancestors lived. The band breaks new ground in asserting such control, he said.

But it has already started. Excavations conducted by the group at the Winefred Lake site on reserve lands have revealed artifacts such as the northernmost sherds of pre-contact pottery ever found in Alberta, changing the narrative of the region’s history.

“I’m proud to find this,” Janvier said.

“It makes me feel connected. I know the stories are true.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 15, 2024.

Bob Weber, Canadian Press