Parks Canada unveils new national Indigenous Stewardship Policy

Parks Canada has unveiled a new policy focused on Indigenous stewardship.

The policy sets out a framework on how Parks Canada and Indigenous communities can work together to conserve nature and culture.

"We wanted to be able to demonstrate that we've been listening for decades and we've heard the feedback that's been provided and we needed to be able to demonstrate a tangible and concrete commitment moving forward," Nadine Spence, vice president of Indigenous affairs and cultural heritage for Parks Canada told CBC News in an interview.

Parks Canada was created in the 1880s when the first national park in the country was established in Banff, Alta.

Now the government agency manages more than 200 sites including national parks, historic sites and protected areas. It has a complex history with Indigenous communities because First Nations people, Métis and Inuit were displaced, removed and in some cases banned from traditional hunting and harvesting lands. 

But not everyone is on board with the new policy.

Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allan Adam says he would like to see more work put in from Parks Canada first – including correcting the wrongs of the past and having the federal organization recognize Wood Buffalo National Park as traditional territory of the K'ai Tailé Dené.

"You got to remember you removed us from arks back in 1922 and you haven't resolved that issue," he said.

Wood Buffalo National Park is the largest national park in the country with land that spans the Northwest Territories and Alberta. At the time of its creation, all Indigenous and treaty rights were considered extinguished, according to Parks Canada.

Adam's grandmother was one of the people who was no longer allowed in the national park after Wood Buffalo National Park was established, he said. 

"My dad told me the story of what had happened, that my granny was removed from Wood Buffalo National Park at the age of 21 when her husband died."

The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation commissioned a report on the history of the park. After conducting interviews with elders and community members, the report was released in 2021. It describes the park's history as violent and fraught.

It said the park's co-management strategies didn't do enough to address intergenerational impacts on Denesųłiné peoples.

"Why would we want to make a co-operative management plan agreement with Parks Canada when we didn't do anything wrong in the first place," said Adam. "If we do that, all we're doing is accepting the wrongdoings of Parks Canada towards our people."