An agreement was recently signed between Parks Canada and the Stoney and Simpcw First Nations, renewing an age-old treaty regarding the land which Jasper National Park occupies.
This agreement involves mutual harvesting privileges of food and medicine for both nations in the park, privileges that were in place until Jasper Park was founded in 1907. It was at this time, over 100 years ago, that the Indigenous peoples who occupied the land were forcibly removed and landmarks within the site were given settler colonial names.
The creation of a national park may be for preservation purposes, but in an article by The Canadian Press, published in the Chicago Herald, Chief George Lampreau of the Simpcw First Nation noted that caribou levels are near zero: “[Parks] is building up to 2.4 million [visitors] now and you’ve [got] animals going extinct. You’re not managing properly. Maybe we as First Nations decide what the carrying capacity is for that park.”
First Nations people lived in reciprocity with this land for hundreds of generations before settlers imposed borders around it and named it ‘Jasper.’ Barry Wesley, a Stoney spokesperson, said, “us doing harvesting doesn’t mean we’re going to be minimizing the animals. They’re spirit, too. They’re going to be invited to the ceremony.”
This ceremony is one planned for the end of this month and into the next, in which a small number of elk, deer and mountain sheep will be hunted for a community feast. According to CFJC Today Kamloops, the area east of Snaring River, north of Highway 16 and the Athabasca River will be closed from Oct. 23 to Nov. 13 “to ensure public safety and respect to the ceremony.”
St. Catharines residents may be reminded of the ongoing Short Hills controversy, during which the park is closed for several weekends at the end of the year so members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy can hunt white-tailed deer as per a centuries-old treaty called the Albany Deed.
This month has two scheduled harvests, one having already passed on Oct. 21, with the other taking place on Oct. 28. There are four other dates scheduled in November and December. These harvests have seen protests from local residents and animal rights activists for many years, despite Indigenous explanations that these are controlled harvests, not mindless hunts.
The Simpw-Stoney-Parks Canada agreement in Jasper Park will encourage prosperity and longevity in the environment, although whether it will meet the same resistance as the Short Hills harvests is yet to be seen.
