Brady Highway, “Thundering Ahead: Campaign for Canada’s Wanuskewin Heritage Park”

0 0

Indigenous knowledge and conservation workshop.
November 15, 2018

Hosted by the Parks Research Network at the University of Alberta

Partnerships need to make sense and involve local communities
Sharing in the resources and educating people – not just transferring knowledge for economic benefit
Unique part of the park – Elders council (contrast to Parks Canada which is very centrally focused) that helps to ensure their vision is implemented in the park
If research proposal does not make sense to the community it cannot be engaged with – Indigenous communities present the issues they would like to explore to researchers and government
Focus on education to visitors (40,000 visitors/year – this will likely triple)
- Many visitors from school (K-12)
Indigenous communities want to be able to engage in their own research and publish their own findings
The park is considered a learning beacon with relationships to universities (with Indigenous methodologies in mind)
Hope to increase the size of the park – need partnerships and investments (in the local communities) for this
As capacity is built in parks – it needs to transfer into the local communities

How do we speak to important issues while we work within an institution?
- Institutions are not always interested in changing, especially when driven by monetary means
- Underlying theme in workshop – the need to build bridges, create relationships, and create allies within work places
One of the ways to do this – put Indigenous voices first

Indigenous voices first – guiding questions limit the conversations
Brady Highway – what do the settler communities want from Indigenous communities? To take away knowledge?
Find a place to create space for Indigenous people to lead the way in conservation
Tension between “taking away knowledge” and wanting to engage with Indigenous communities
How can a single representative from Indigenous communities speak on behalf of a large amount of people (who all have varying values and opinions)?
Comparing differences between communities is not productive
“How to make this more human for Indigenous People” – with regards to collaboration on parks management and conservation
Challenges with framing PR – ensuring information shared to the public is fair to everyone
What about revenue generation for the local Indigenous communities?
Creating a place for productive conversations to occur and facilitate these discussions – the communities will decide what is appropriate for conservation management