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With nearly 40,000 square kilometres of forest under their care,
First Nations are among the largest stewards of Canada's natural resources.
Balancing the economic potential of this asset with a people's traditional
way of life is the focus of a unique collaborative research project
in Alberta.
The Little Red River Cree in northern Alberta faced a difficult dilemma.
Harvesting thousands of hectares of forest would bring economic prosperity
to their small community - but at what cost to their traditional way of
life?
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The economic and cultural struggle over the forest
The roughly 2,500 members of the Little Red River Cree live on three separate reserves in the Lower Peace River region of north-central Alberta. Under Treaty 8 (1899), band members have the right to hunt, trap and fish in all seasons on unoccupied Crown lands.
Some 75 percent of the Little Red River Cree are under 30 years old - a ratio that is expected to rise significantly in the next few years. About 85 percent of the workforce is unemployed and 70 percent of all community members receive social assistance. Few local wage-earning opportunities exist. Add in the high cost of commercial foods, and it is easy to see why continued reliance on traditional woodlands is critical for the economic, social and cultural sustainability of the community.
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Researchers from the Sustainable Forest Management Network (SFM) offered to help. They teamed up with band leaders to develop ground rules that would protect community values. The SFM research team, headed by David Natcher and Cliff Hickey, was motivated by SFM's goal "to develop criteria and indicators for Aboriginal Peoples and their social development."
The Little Red River Cree have been working with the federal and provincial governments for more than a decade to gain recognition and ensure protection of their constitutional rights to lands and resources. But economic self-sufficiency is only one band priority. Many community members, especially the elders, believe that commercial timber-harvesting clashes with the values and long-term interests of the First Nations' traditional way of life.
"This is clearly an issue for the elders, but even among the younger generation, there is growing concern about maintaining a traditional Cree way of life," says Natcher, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Alaska. "And in most cases, we found that both the younger and older generations recognize the importance of economic development."
To help accommodate both values, the SFM Network stepped in with its 21st study for the Little Red River Cree since the partnership began in 1995. Community workers and researchers interviewed community members, documented community use of the forest and recorded recommendations for changing commercial forest operations.
This co-operative effort resulted in six new ground rules that would:
- modify management operations to minimize damage to wildlife;
- modify forestry operations to ensure community access to lands and resources;
- protect areas of biological, cultural or historical significance as identified by community members;
- recognize and protect aboriginal and treaty hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering rights;
- increase forest-based economic opportunities for community members; and
- increase the involvement of community members in decision-making.
Specific measures for each of these ground rules will help determine whether they are being followed. "We appreciate these joint efforts," says Little Red River Cree Chief Johnsen Sewepagaham. "The new criteria and indicators provide a vision of change, clear recommendations and ways of helping our people achieve cultural and economic sustainability."
Hickey agrees. "Community leaders and forestry planners can now understand at a glance what they should be doing. All of them can literally look out their window every day and see first-hand if the plans they developed together are actually working."
Natcher and Hickey stress that while these ground rules are not perfect, at a basic level they are a transparent approach to decision-making that creates accountability and allows for ongoing evaluation to accommodate change - both human and natural.
www.ualberta.ca
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