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UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Past, Present, and Future Land Use of Swan River First Nation by Ave Tressa Dersch A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE INTERDISCIPLINARY DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY and DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES CALGARY, ALBERTA MAY, 2011 © Dersch 2011 Library and Archives Bibliothèque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-81762-9 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-81762-9 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l'Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non- support microforme, papier, électronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette thèse. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privée, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont été enlevés de thesis. cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. ii iii ABSTRACT This dissertation examines past, present, and future land use of Swan River First Nation whose reserves are on the south central shore of Lesser Slake Lake, Alberta, Canada. In this dissertation the theoretical perspective of Indigenous archaeology is utilized as is an interdisciplinary approach whereby western science and traditional knowledge as well as social science and natural science are used. This dissertation presents how and where Swan River First Nation exercised their Treaty Rights to hunt, fish, trap, and gather in the past and documents baseline conditions regarding current infringements to Swan River First Nation‟s ability to practise these rights. It discusses the present context and issues associated with Aboriginal consultation in Alberta with regards to both infringements to Treaty Rights and archaeology. It also applies Swan River First Nation traditional knowledge to subarctic ethnoarchaeology. Finally, it creates a Treaty Rights based land use plan to ensure that Swan River First Nation can practise their rights into the future as well as a methodology for modeling high archaeological potential based on traditional land use and vegetation communities to be used in future archaeological research. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The success of this project relied on the support of my supervisors Dr. B. Kooyman and Dr. E. Yeung and well as Chief L. Chalifoux of Swan River First Nation. In addition Darryel R. Sowan, Swan River First Nation‟s Consultation Unit, Swan River First Nation Council members as well as SpatialQ were essential to the completion of this project. Ultimately this project would not have been possible without the contributions from Swan River First Nation members. DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to Darryel R. Sowan as well as Swan River First Nation‟s Elders, community members, and youth. iv Table of Contents LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................. vii LIST OF FIGURES AND ILLUSTRATIONS .................................................................................. vii APPENDICES ................................................................................................................................... vii EPIGRAPH ........................................................................................................................................ vii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2. ECOLOGICAL, INDUSTRIAL, AND CULTURAL CONTEXT .............................. 7 Ecological Context .............................................................................................................................. 7 Vegetation ....................................................................................................................................... 7 Wildlife ......................................................................................................................................... 13 Fish ................................................................................................................................................ 15 Industrial Context .............................................................................................................................. 15 Forestry ......................................................................................................................................... 16 Oil and Gas Development ............................................................................................................. 16 Alberta Special Waste Treatment Centre ...................................................................................... 17 Cultural Context ................................................................................................................................ 17 Western Woods Cree .................................................................................................................... 17 Early Inhabitants of the Lesser Slave Lake Area .......................................................................... 19 Fur Trade Era in the Lesser Slave Lake Area ............................................................................... 19 Leadership after Treaty 8 in the Lesser Slave Lake area .............................................................. 22 Swan River First Nation Reserves ................................................................................................ 23 Archaeology of the Lesser Slave Lake Area ................................................................................. 24 CHAPTER 3. TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE & ARCHAEOLOGY........................................... 29 Development of Anthropology and Archaeology in Canada ............................................................ 29 Anthropology ................................................................................................................................ 29 Archaeology .................................................................................................................................. 33 Indigenous Archaeology in Canada .......................................................................................... 34 Archaeology as Ethnography .................................................................................................... 38 Traditional Knowledge ..................................................................................................................... 41 CHAPTER 4. METHODS ................................................................................................................ 50 Traditional Knowledge Collection .................................................................................................... 50 Agreements and Ethics .................................................................................................................. 50 Methodological Approach ............................................................................................................. 52 Literature Review .......................................................................................................................... 53 Traditional Knowledge Collection Settings .................................................................................. 53 v One-on-One Interviews ............................................................................................................. 54 Large Group Session ................................................................................................................. 54 Small Group Sessions ............................................................................................................... 55 Verification of Results .............................................................................................................. 55 Information Processing and Storage ............................................................................................. 55 Limitations of Traditional Knowledge Collection Methods ......................................................... 56 CHAPTER 5. 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