Exploring Co-Reclamation: Gesturing Towards Intercultural Collaboration and the Renewal of Indigenous Cultural Landscapes after Oil Sands Extraction in the Fort McKay First Nation Traditional Territory, Treaty 8, Alberta, Canada
Date
2023-02-07
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Abstract
The sustainability of a landscape and its host community post-mining depends on careful and effective mine closure and reclamation planning. Such planning has the potential to support the renewal of cultural landscapes and to re-establish traditional land use capability on reclaimed lands for affected Indigenous communities to exercise Indigenous and Treaty Rights within their traditional territories. A collaborative approach to mine closure and reclamation, termed “co-reclamation”, was conceived and evaluated by academic researchers and Fort McKay First Nation (Fort McKay) staff, representatives, and community members who are hosting oil sands projects on their traditional territory in Treaty 8, Alberta, Canada. An oil sands company participated in early portions of the study. The aim of this dissertation was to explore a participatory and inclusive approach to mine closure and reclamation of lands disturbed by oil sands activities in the Fort McKay Traditional Territory to support the renewal of cultural landscapes capable of supporting Fort McKay’s traditional uses. The study applied a “Two-Roads Approach”, which is an ethnoecological framework, to elevate Fort McKay’s voices, research inquiries, knowledge system, and ways of working throughout the study. The people of Fort McKay have been living off the land for many generations. The sustainability of their culture is rooted in their traditional lands and waters which supply food and other resources for subsistence activities and a connection to their community, history, traditions, knowledge, and spirituality. The Two-Roads ethnoecological framework supported an examination of the Fort McKay road whereby mine closure and reclamation processes were explored and developed based on Fort McKay’s understanding of their traditional lands, waters, and aspects from their placed-based knowledge system. Furthermore, the Two-Roads Approach enabled the braiding of scientific and Indigenous perspectives and knowledges into co-created research products. This dissertation presents the following emergent intercultural mine closure and reclamation tools, approaches, and insights: consultation, engagement, and mine closure good practices; an indigenized code of conduct; traditional Indigenous cultural methods for creating a shared closure vision; a shared First Nation-industry aspirational story - te mamano aski ki kakio asiniwak (Cree) / ɂeła ɂeghdalaı́da niha tuha (Dënesuliné) / working together for the betterment of our people and land (English); a subset of the traditional use plants, wildlife, birds, amphibians, and fish taxa which are important to Fort McKay; insights from a systematic review of traditional land use planning in mine closure and reclamation at seven oil sands projects; and a Two-Roads Reconciliation & Reclamation Framework to assist oil sands operators and Canadian Provincial Government agencies with ethical intercultural dialogue and meaningful engagement with Fort McKay on mine closure and reclamation of their traditional territory. These research products illuminate steps forward in problem solving towards reclamation as an act of reconciliation and a more just and equitable closure landscape with mutual benefits for all.
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Keywords
Oil Sands Industry, Alberta, Treaty 8, Mine closure and reclamation, Indigenous cultural landscapes, Co-Reclamation, Intercultural Collaboration
Citation
Daly, C. A. (2023). Exploring co-reclamation: gesturing towards intercultural collaboration and the renewal of Indigenous cultural landscapes after oil sands extraction in the Fort McKay First Nation Traditional Territory, Treaty 8, Alberta, Canada (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.