ERMINESKIN CREE NATION
PRELIMINARY INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND USE REPORT:
2021 NGTL AND EDSON MAINLINE EXPANSION PROJECTS
April 2019 Foreword, Limitations, and Terms of Use
This report discusses the Indigenous Knowledge and Use of Ermineskin Cree Nation members in relation to Nova Gas Transmission Limited’s proposed 2021 NGTL System Expansion and the Edson Mainline Expansion. The report is based on two main sources of information: (1) a review of the existing Ermineskin Cree Nation Indigenous Knowledge and Use database; and (2) oral histories and historical documents that connect Ermineskin Cree Nation to the areas in and around the proposed projects. Because the research and writing for this report was completed in less than two weeks and no Project-specific interviews were conducted, the report does not necessarily represent the full extent of Ermineskin Cree Nation Traditional Knowledge and Use of the Project area. This study should not be considered adequate to assess fully and properly the potential effects of the Project on the Traditional Knowledge and Use and Treaty and Aboriginal rights of Ermineskin Cree Nation and its members or to develop adequate mitigation measures. Ermineskin Cree Nation plans on carrying out a site visit and assessment of the projects in the summer of 2019.
This report is the exclusive property of Ermineskin Cree Nation. The information contained in this report are solely for use by the Nova Gas Transmission Limited and the National Energy Board in making decisions related to the 2021 NGTL System Expansion and the Edson Mainline Expansion. The report, extracts of the report, and/or original information from the report may not be used, reproduced, or disseminated by any party without written permission from Ermineskin Cree Nation Chief and council. Nothing in this report should be construed so as to define, limit, or otherwise constrain the Treaty, Constitutional, or legislative rights and interests of Ermineskin Cree Nation and its members.
This report is based upon the Traditional Knowledge of Ermineskin Cree Nation and should be understood as a dynamic and living document that is subject to revision and update over time.
Ermineskin Cree Nation – 2021 NGTL/Edson Mainline Expansion i Preliminary IKU Report
Table of Contents
FOREWORD, LIMITATIONS, AND TERMS OF USE ...... I INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES ...... 1 METHODOLOGY AND METHODS ...... 1 PROJECT DESCRIPTION IN RELATION TO ECN ...... 4 ERMINESKIN CREE NATION HISTORY ...... 9 IKU INTERSECTIONS...... 15 POTENTIAL PROJECT IMPACTS AND MITIGATION ...... 20 CONCLUSION ...... 25
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Introduction and Objectives
The proposed 2021 NGTL Expansion and the Edson Mainline Expansion projects are situated within the traditional territory of the Ermineskin Cree Nation, whose members continue to travel to, use, and occupy the Project areas to exercise their constitutionally protected Treaty and Aboriginal rights and practice their traditional culture and way of life. In recognition of this fact, Nova Gas Transmission Limited approached Ermineskin Cree Nation to carry out a traditional land use site visit and assessment of the proposed Project Rights-of-Way. This report will provide a brief and preliminary examination of Ermineskin Cree Nation Indigenous Knowledge and Use in the Project areas. Because of the limited time and resources available, moreover, the findings of this report should be considered preliminary and incomplete. Ermineskin Cree Nation will complete a full site visit and assessment in the summer of 2019.
Methodology and Methods
Studies of Indigenous land use, occupancy, and knowledge go by many names, from Traditional Land and Resource Use Studies and Traditional Use and Occupancy Studies to Traditional Land Use and Ecological Knowledge Studies. These terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but can have important differences. For the sake of clarity and consistency, the term Indigenous Knowledge and Use (IKU) study will be used throughout this report. The modern period of IKU studies in Canada began in the 1970s, spurred by legal challenges, Aboriginal title disputes, and the negotiation of modern treaties. Milton Freeman set the basic model for contemporary IKU studies in his Inuit Land Use and Occupancy Project (ILUOP), which was completed in advance of negotiations of the comprehensive land-claims settlement for Nunavut.i IKU studies quickly carved out a niche in the 1980s as Indigenous peoples sought to defend and advance their rights and interests through legal proceedings, land claims, and regulatory processes.
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The standard methods for IKU studies, established by Freeman and his collaborators in the ILUOP, are individual map biographies and community-composite maps.ii Individual map biographies ask participants to locate and map harvesting and related use activities, as well as sites of historic and/or cultural importance and knowledge of local ecologies, such as patterns of animal movement. Individual map biographies are then aggregated into community-composite maps, which help to establish the geographic extent and spatial intensity of community land use. There are important limitations to IKU mapping,iii and one should be careful not to confuse the absence of mapped values for the absence of significance. As one Elder explained: “Well, you know everything's sacred to us no matter where we go. It doesn't matter what we do. Mother Nature is sacred to us.”iv Nevertheless, Indigenous land-use mapping has become a standard component of legal and regulatory proceedings in Canada, as a result of its visual and presentational clarity and perception of scientific validity.v
IKU studies can be customized to meet particular requirements and vary in geographic scale and informational depth.vi For scale, IKU studies can be either “Regional” or “Project‐specific”. Regional IKU studies are generally conducted on a much wider scale than project-specific studies. The area for a regional study could be the traditional territory of an Indigenous community or a politically determined area, such as provincial boundaries or regional-planning areas. Project‐specific studies, on the other hand, usually comprise a more limited area, for instance the project footprint or development area, as well as the local and regional study areas within which there are potential impacts to IKU.
For informational depth, one can delineate between “Operational”, “Overview”, and “Desktop” studies. Operational‐level studies are the most comprehensive and reliable form of IKU study and are most appropriate for the assessment of potential impacts of industrial projects on Indigenous land use and occupancy and the development of measures to mitigate impacts. These studies generally involve a significant number of map-biography interviews that produce detailed oral histories and map-documentation of traditional land use sites and values and a reliable
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representation of IKU in a particular project area. Operational-level studies generally include field verification or ‘ground-truthing’ of the most significant sites and the proposal of project and site-specific mitigation measures, as well as a characterization of the potential effects of a project to IKU and a determination of significance.
Overview-level studies are more limited in terms of the number of interviewees and the depth of detail obtained during the interview process. Overview-level studies focus on the most significant sites and values, whether within a regional or project-specific context. Overview- level studies generally take place over a shorter time period and require fewer resources. These studies are used to determine the potential scope of a Project’s impacts on IKU. Overview studies are best used to inform the early-stages of project planning and can identify whether there is a need for more robust, operational-level studies.
The Desktop study does not involve project-specific interviews with community harvesters and land users. Instead, the study compares the existing IKU database for a particular community with the shapefiles provided by the proponent for the project study areas. A report is produced on the basis of the number and nature of the intersections of IKU values and the potentially impacted areas. The Desktop study is the least comprehensive and reliable of the IKU study options, in part because such a study assumes and indeed requires methodological consistency in the gathering and inputting of all prior information. Its value is to determine whether the community members have historical and/or current IKU in the project and study areas.
The present study is a desktop study. No Project-specific IKU interviews were carried out for this report. Rather, the author cross-referenced the Ermineskin Cree Nation IKU database with the Project RoWs and a 5-kilometer buffer in order to provide maps and preliminary discussions of the potential IKU interactions and impacts of the proposed Project. In order to maintain the confidentiality of Ermineskin IKU, all points were protected by means of a 10-kilometer buffer zone. Quotations used from interviews conducted for previous research projects are coded in the following manner in the endnotes: PROJECT-INTERVIEW#-PAGE#.
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To reiterate: because no Project-specific interviews were conducted for this report, the present study should not be considered adequate to assess the potential effects of the Project on the IKU and Treaty and Aboriginal rights and interests of Ermineskin Cree Nation and its members and its findings should be considered preliminary and incomplete. Ermineskin Cree Nation will submit a full list of its concerns and recommendations upon completion of its site visit and assessment in the summer of 2019.
Project Description in Relation to ECN
NOVA Gas Transmission Limited (“the Proponent”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Trans Canada, has filed applications for the 2021 NGTL System Expansion Project and the Edson Mainline Expansion (together “the Project”). The Project will be part of the NGTL System, an integrated natural gas pipeline system comprised of approximately 24,000 km of pipeline, associated compression and other facilities located in Alberta and British Columbia.
For the 2021 NGTL Expansion, the Proponent proposes to build and operate approximately 344 km of 1,219 mm (NPS 48) outside diameter natural gas pipeline and associated facilities in northwestern Alberta, from approximately Grande Prairie to north of Calgary, including three compressor station additions. The 2021 NGTL Expansion includes the following activities and components: (1) approximately 344 km of 1,219 mm (NPS 48) pipeline as required; (2) three compressor unit additions and related components at or near existing compressor stations; (3) mainline valve sites; (4) a control valve; and (5) launcher and receiver facilities to accommodate cleaning and in-line inspection. As well, the Project would require construction related temporary infrastructure, including a cathodic protection system, temporary access roads, and miscellaneous works, such as pipeline warning signs and aerial markers.
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There are three main geographic areas in which the facilities for the 2021 NGTL Expansion are organized: (1) Grande Prairie West; (2) Grande Prairie South; and (3) Edson South. These three main geographic areas in turn contain the following proposed pipeline loops and sections:
• Grand Prairie West: Grande Prairie Mainline Loop No. 4 (Valhalla Section), which is a pipeline loop section of approximately 35.7 km of 1,219 mm (NPS 48) OD pipe with two tie-in points; and Grande Prairie Mainline Loop No. 3 (Elmworth Section), which is a pipeline loop section of approximately 46.4 km of 1,219 mm (NPS 48) OD pipe with two tie-in points;
• Grande Prairie South Area: Grande Prairie Mainline Loop No. 2 (Karr Section), which is a pipeline loop section of approximately 56.8 km of 1,219 mm (NPS 48) OD pipe with two tie-in points; Grande Prairie Mainline Loop No. 2 (Deep Valley Section), which is a pipeline loop section of approximately 69.1 km of 1,219 mm (NPS 48) OD pipe with three tie-in points; Grande Prairie Mainline Loop No. 2 (McLeod River Connection Section), which is a pipeline loop section of approximately 13.5 km of 1,219 mm (NPS 48) OD pipe;
• Edson South: Edson South Mainline Loop No. 4 (Robb Section), which is a pipeline loop section of approximately 41.8 km of 1,219 mm (NPS 48) OD pipe; Edson South Mainline Loop No. 4 (Dismal Creek Section), which is a pipeline loop section of approximately 31.8 km of 1,219 mm (NPS 48) OD pipe; Edson South Mainline Loop No. 4 (Brewster Section), which is a pipeline loop section of approximately 48.6 km of 1,219 mm (NPS 48) OD pipe (at the Nordegg Compressor Station);
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Ermineskin Cree Nation – 2021 NGTL/Edson Mainline Expansion 6 Preliminary IKU Report
The report will review IKU in relation to the following sections: Valhalla, Elmworth, Karr, Deep Valley, McLeod River, Robb, Dismal Creek, and Brewster. The Edson Mainline Expansion, for its part, would consist of two pipeline sections, Elk River and Alford Creek, which would add up to approximately 85 kilometres (km) of newly constructed 48-inch pipe to the NGTL System. The Elk River section would consist of an approximately 40 km of 48-inch pipeline located 115 km southeast from Hinton, Alberta, in Yellowhead and Clearwater Counties. The Alford Creek section would consist of approximately 45 km of 48-inch pipeline located 29 km west from Rocky Mountain House, in Clearwater County. In addition to the two pipeline sections, the Edson Mainline Expansion would include control valves, mainline valves, and a receiver facility; pipeline cleaning and in-line inspection and a cathodic protection system; construction related temporary infrastructure; travel lanes, borrow pits/dugouts, laydown yards, and contractor yards; and miscellaneous works, such as pipeline warning signs and aerial markers.
Much of the proposed Project traverses Crown lands in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The Brewster and Dismal Creek sections are located approximately 130 kilometers and 160 kilometers from Ermineskin Cree Nation Reserve 138 (see Figure 1). Despite this distance, the entirety of the proposed Project is located within areas of historical and current Indigenous Use and occupancy by Ermineskin Cree Nation members and their ancestors. As we will see below, moreover, Ermineskin Cree Nation land users are being pushed farther and farther to the north, into and beyond the Grande Prairie West and South areas, including onto private lands, as a result of the cumulative effects of oil and gas and forestry, among other sources of disturbance.
While parts of the Grand Prairie area encompasses private lands more than 400 kilometers from the Ermineskin Cree Nation Reserve 138, these lands are nevertheless of growing interest to Ermineskin Cree Nation land users as a result of two interrelated developments. The first is the cumulative effects of industrial and economic development, which have reduced the abundance of big game on Crown lands to the west of Ermineskin Reserve 138. Over the past century, a variety of factors, from restrictions on hunting and trapping to extractive industries and recreational use, have undermined the Treaty rights of Indigenous peoples in Alberta to harvest
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on Crown lands for subsistence purposes.vii Ermineskin harvesters report declines in the availability of big game, with the exception of mule deer, in much of the Crown lands that comprise their traditional territory in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains:
It's like the Elk. They're just little pockets of small herds [on Crown lands]. Whereas back in the day there was large groups of elk, now there's maybe seven or eight in one herd. You'll be lucky if you see seven or eight in one herd. And the pockets are scattered.viii
The traditional knowledge of Ermineskin land users is supported by studies that suggest oil and gas and other industrial development have contributed to declining populations of large ungulates such as moose, elk, and caribou, fur-bearers such as lynx, marten, and fisher, and bird species.ix The declining availability of wildlife, and particularly big game, has meant a decreased likelihood of success for ECN hunters: “You watch, over the years of hunting, we all go out there [to the foothills], most of the time we don't get anything.”x The decreased likelihood of success is made worse by the increased costs of hunting, particularly gasoline for longer trips. Taken together, these factors have contributed to fewer hunters getting out onto the land and a greater reliance of the community on a smaller number of hunters to provide wild meat.
The second and related development is that the extractive industries, recreational users, and tourism are driving big game off Crown lands and onto private lands, the result of which is that Ermineskin hunters are relying to a greater degree upon access to private lands to exercise their constitutionally protected Treaty and Aboriginal rights and practice and transmit their traditional way of life and culture to future generations.xi As Ermineskin hunters have explained, Ermineskin Cree Nation and its members have contacts with a range of private landowners in different parts of Alberta. One hunter described travelling to Grande Prairie to hunt with friends on private lands: “There’s Grande Prairie too. We go up, and we know some people up there. And they take us out on their land too, way up in this area, eh? We have friends up there, that's where they used to take us to the North side, like in this Bear Lake area.”xii
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Ermineskin Cree Nation History
Ermineskin Cree Nation can trace its lineage to the great Cree migration from the eastern woodlands along the North Saskatchewan River to the Rocky Mountains in conjunction with the expansion of the Euro-Canadian fur trade and its network of forts and posts. These Mountain Cree, as Hudson’s Bay Company’s Governor-in-Chief George Simpson would call them,xiii had lived in the Alberta foothills and the Rocky Mountains since the 1700s.xiv The Mountain Cree trapped fur-bearers in the winter to be sold at the trading posts at Fort Edmonton and Rocky Mountain House while maintaining their traditional subsistence lifestyles, hunting, fishing, and gathering in the rich boreal forest landscapes and hunting buffalo on the plains in the summer.
While the territories regularly used and occupied by the Mountain Cree ranged beyond the Rocky Mountains and its foothills into what would become the Provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, as well as northwestern states such as Montana and North Dakota, this report will focus more narrowly on the areas in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Historical records and oral histories identify the Rocky Mountains and the Alberta foothills from Grande Prairie-Grand Cache-Hinton in the north to Calgary and Pincher Creek to the south as one of the primary use and occupancy areas for the Mountain Cree.
Consistent with the broader west-east migratory pattern that is characteristic of the Cree in Western Canada, who would trap, trade, and explore to the west and then return east in the summer to hunt buffalo and other big game and stock up for the winter,xv oral histories and historical records confirm the early use and occupancy of the Rocky Mountains and the eastern foothills by the Cree in the winter and the subsequent migrations east in the summer. As one Elder recalled, the ancestors of the Ermineskin Cree Nation would winter in the Rocky Mountains in the areas around Banff and Jasper:
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We were always in the eastern slopes; that was one of our main areas. It was a wintering area. It was, especially Jasper and Banff…once you enter those mountains in the Jasper area, it's like night and day. It might be cold and blowing, bonce you enter in there, it's warm, and there’s shelter.xvi
Historical records support oral histories. Dempsey identifies Banff, the Kootenay Plains, Banff/Morley/Pincher Creek, and the Flathead Reservation in Montana as areas where the Mountain Cree would regularly spend the winter.xvii
In the summer months, the Mountain Cree would migrate east along the Red Deer, Battle, and North Saskatchewan Rivers towards the east to gather, conduct ceremonies, and hunt buffalo as far as the Battleford area where they would visit friendly Cree communities. In the fall, the Mountain Cree would return along the Saskatchewan River and trade in Edmonton and occupy the Bear Hills and Peace Hills areas before returning to the mountains for the winter. Areas identified in Alberta as used and occupied by the Mountain Cree in the historical records include Banff, Jasper, Morley/Pincher Creek, the Kootenay Plains, Lake Minnewonka, Pipestone Creek near Grande Prairie, Pigeon Lake, Wabamun, Gull Lake, St. Paul, Fort Victoria, Sounding Lake, Duvernay, and Brosseau, among many other locations.xviii
Oral histories provide further evidence of this migratory pattern between the Rocky Mountains east onto the plains. As one Elder observed:
We were more mountain people, but this whole area we did use. Medicine Lake, all that stuff. We’re migratory people, that's true, but there's certain areas of it. And we're crisscrossing with all of our other relatives too… Yeah, Stoney owned southern Alberta. We've all transitioned through there. We all have stories through there… same with Saskatchewan, we all know it crisscrossed. If there was a Sun Dance going on and you wanted to be part of it, you could go. We were hunting; lots of times we all hunted together.xix
As both Mandelbaum and Jones have observed, Cree bands were highly fluid and would often form up into larger camps to hunt buffalo or gather for ceremonial occasions and then break up
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into smaller groups for the winter.xx Historical records are clear that the Mountain Cree were connected to eastern Cree bands and leaders, including Big Bear, Sweetgrass, Poundmaker, Little Hunter, Kehiwin, and Pakan, who would often meet up in the summer for hunting camps, ceremonies, or political negotiations and events.xxi Oral histories likewise connect the Mountain Cree to the Plains Cree of eastern Alberta and Saskatchewan: “And Thunderchild said that their people used to come around down here too. And then they came back up here. And this is how Sunchild became. Sunchild is sister to Thunderchild, but they came around through the mountains and came back. And some settled here.”xxii Similarly, Chief Ermineskin married the sister of Poundmaker and his family is connected via kinship to the House Cree of Mistawasis, Ahtakakoop, and Thunderchild, among others.xxiii
The historical use and occupancy of the Mountain Cree and their connection to Ermineskin Cree Nation is perhaps most visible in the figure of Louis Piche (Pesew/Pisu/Peechee). Born to a French-Canadian fur trader and his Cree wife, Louis Piche was originally moving with the Beaver Hills Cree and is recorded as living at Green Lake, Moose Hills, Red Deer Hills, and Whitefish Lake, among other places.xxiv Piche would join the Mountain Cree in the 1820s, however, when he married Magdeline O’Piatastewis, the daughter of the Cree Chief Ahenekew.xxv An Ermineskin Elder told of how Piche married into the Mountain Cree who had already settled the foothills in the 1700s: “His [Piche’s] wife was already here. Like I was telling you, there's that Oblate Dad mentioned, who, her father [Chief Ahenekew], he's the first Chief of the Mountain Cree. He’s Bobtail and Ermineskin's mother's father.”xxvi
Piche travelled extensively through the traditional territory of the Mountain Cree, guiding David Thompson from Rocky Mountain House to Jasper and HBC Governor George Simpson from Edmonton to Washington State. Simpson described Lake Minnewanka as Piche’s “usual home” and described Piche’s “hunting grounds” to the south of the Bow River:
On this occasion, to save time, he decided to go south to the Bow River and find a place there to cross the mountains. This is where Piche was so important to his plans. Out on the plains, the route was clear and free of obstructions, but along
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their chosen path they encountered muskegs, windfalls, burned-over areas and a good deal of difficulty. In spite of these conditions, they made sixty miles the first day, right through Piche’s hunting grounds.xxvii
Indeed, Simpson named what is now called Lake Minnewonka “Lake Peechee”; when the Government changed the named to Lake Minnewonka in 1888, G.W. Dawson renamed Tombstone Mountain, 14 kilometers to the northwest of Banff, Mount Peechee.xxviii
In terms of geographic extensiveness, the core territory of Piche and his followers extended from Banff north past the Saskatchewan River to Jasper, west through the mountain passes, and east into the plains. However, the group was highly mobile and ranged as far as north as Grande Prairie and Lesser Slave Lake, south through the mountains into Washington State and Oregon, and southeast into Montana and North Dakota and east to Battleford.xxix In the 1830s Piche became Chief of the Mountain Cree. With his wife O’Piatastewis, he would have two of his sons would themselves go on to become Chiefs and play critical roles in the founding of the Ermineskin Cree Nation: Alexis Piche (Bobtail) and Baptiste Piche (Ermineskin).
Following the death of Louis Piche in 1845, the Mountain Cree gradually began to fragment. Driven by poor trapping conditions and competition from other groups, Bobtail and Ermineskin migrated towards the plains near Pigeon Lake. Bobtail would ascend to the position of Head Chief of the Mountain Cree and would command the largest band of the Western Cree. However, droves of Euro-Canadian settlers provoked a rapid decline in wild game, and particularly buffalo, and the intensification of disease. Having witnessed the fate of the Plains Cree, Bobtail adhered to Treaty Six at Blackfoot Crossing in 1877, despite his initial boycott of negotiations. After selecting a reserve around the Bear Hills, near the present-day Maskwacis, Bobtail divided his reserve to accommodate his younger brother Ermineskin, as confirmed in the annuity lists from 1880.
Ermineskin had his reserve surveyed in 1885 and became the first Chief of the Ermineskin Band, recognized by the Government of Canada in May of 1889. Despite their settlement on the
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reserve, however, Ermineskin members continued to travel throughout their traditional lands in the foothills from Grande Prairie and the Kootenay Plains to Morley and Pincher Creek, to hunt, fish, and gather according to traditional customs and for subsistence purposes.
The connections between the Ermineskin Cree Nation and the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains were strengthened and reinvigorated in the 1960s with the founding of Smallboy Camp by Robert “Bobtail” Smallboy, the maternal grandson of Alexis Piche (Bobtail). Born in 1898 on the Ermineskin reserve, Smallboy was one of the most productive and financially successful farmers in the community. Respected for his knowledge of Cree culture and traditions, he was selected to be Chief of the Ermineskin Cree by his predecessor Dan Minde, a post he held from 1959 to 1968. Despite his personal success, however, Chief Smallboy had become increasingly disenchanted with reserve life and the influence of white-settler culture on his people. In 1968, Chief Smallboy and over 100 of his followers decided to leave the Ermineskin reserve to establish a camp on the Kootenay Plains, near the homeland of his grandfather Bobtail, on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
Chief Smallboy left the Ermineskin reserve to pursue the traditional Cree lifestyle, which he felt was becoming increasingly unviable on the reserve, and preserve Cree culture and traditions. Relocated in the early 1970s to its present location south of Grave Flats, members of the camp eschewed what they saw as the negative influences of Western culture and dedicated themselves to the revitalization and preservation of Cree culture and traditional practices. To this day, camp members continue to hunt and fish for subsistence, gather berries and plants for sustenance and medicinal purposes, and engage in traditional spiritual ceremonies. Camp residents remain members of Ermineskin Cree Nation and many residents of the Ermineskin Reserve 138 regularly visit camp and have family members and friends who live there.
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These historical migratory and occupancy patterns are visible in the historical use and occupancy information collected to date by Ermineskin Cree Nation. It should be noted, as a clear qualifier, that the information presented here does not represent the full extent of historical use and occupancy in Alberta by the ancestors of Ermineskin Cree Nation members, as this information is based upon interviews with only a small sample of the population. What is more, historical IKU information outside of Alberta was clipped to preserve the privacy of Ermineskin Cree Nation’s IKU to the greatest extent possible. That being said, Figure 2 clearly supports the oral and historical evidence of a circular, west-east migratory pattern of the Mountain Cree and the ancestors of Ermineskin Cree Nation.
Figure 2 provides depicts a strong concentration of historical use and occupancy to the west of Ermineskin Cree Nation Reserve 138, in the area between Hinton/Jasper, Rocky Mountain House/Kootenay Plains/Smallboy Camp, and Morley/Banff. In addition, the northern extent of historical use and occupancy of the foothills ranges into the Grande Cache/Grande Prairie and Lesser Slave Lake areas to the north and Pincher Creek/Brocket areas to the south is consistent with the historical record. The eastern migrations of the Mountain Cree are similarly evident. There is a strong concentration of historical use and occupancy around Saddle Lake and Kehiwin, as well as around the areas of Frog Lake and Onion Lake. To the southeast there are historical use and occupancy concentrations noted around Sounding Lake and the Cypress Hills.
IKU Intersections
This section presents the preliminary findings on Ermineskin IKU intersections in the Project area. No Project-specific interviews were conducted for this report. Because of limitations of time and resources, IKU in the Ermineskin Cree Nation was cross-referenced with the Project RoWs and a 5-kilometer buffer.
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Ermineskin Cree Nation – 2021 NGTL/Edson Mainline Expansion 16 Preliminary IKU Report
In total, 146 IKU point, line, and polygon intersections were found within the Project RoW buffer along all sections of the proposed Project, including big and small-game hunting, fishing, berry picking, medicinal plants, subsistence timber, and sites of spiritual, cultural, and historical importance. Figure 3 presents the preliminary findings of the cross-refernecing of the Ermineskin Cree Nation IKU database with the Project RoW buffer. The bottom right-hand corner shows IKU values in and around the Grand Prairie West sections; the bottom left-hand corner shows IKU values in and around the Grand Prairie South sections; and the top left and right-hand corners show IKU values in and around the Edson South and the Edson Mainline Expansion sections of the proposed Project.
In Figure 3, IKU values are presented as a ‘heat’ or ‘concentration’ map, in which the intensity of use is indicated by the colour gradient. To produce these maps, all values were set at a transparency of 85%. To protect the privacy of site-specific information, all IKU points were buffered with a 10-kilometer radius. Where there is no IKU, there is full transparency (background colour). The maximum extent of ‘heat’, or the darkest red colour, is achieved when 7 or more IKU values overlap in any given place.
The pipeline sections with the greatest concentration are the Edson South and the Edson Mainline Expansion sections, including the Robb, Dismal Creek, Elk River, Brewster, and Alford sections, for which the entire RoW and buffer area are coloured in the most intense shade of red, indicating the maximum concentration of IKU. This is not surprisping given the locations of these sections in the heart of the Ermineskin Cree Nation’s historical and current IKU area in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains, between Hinton/Edson and Kootenay Plains/Smallboy Camp/Rocky Mountain House. The Robb, Dismal Creek, and Elk River Sections cut through a critical triangle of historical and current IKU between Edson, Smallboy Camp, and Lodgepole. The main arteries for access to the area are the Forestry Trunk Road and Elk River road, both of which are heavily utilized by Ermineskin Cree Nation members to access the interior of the eastern foothills and the mountains themselves.
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Ermineskin Cree Nation – 2021 NGTL/Edson Mainline Expansion 18 Preliminary IKU Report
IKU activities in and around these sections of the Project include moose and elk hunting and breeding grounds, bird harvesting and nesting areas, berries such as blueberries and huckleberries, medicines including fungus, fishing in the Brazeau River, the Brazeau Reservoir, and the Elk River, and subsistence water. In the northern portion of the Elk River section, there are important spiritual sites, including a Sun Dance site and a culture camp for youth.
The Brewster section intersects another central historical and current IKU area for the Ermineskin Cree Nation, between Rocky Mountain House, Nordegg, and Kootenay Plains, which is one of the central sites of spiritual, cultural, and historical importance for the Ermineskin Cree Nation in Alberta. The area is accessed primarily by the David Thompson Highway from east to west and the Forestry Trunk Road from north to south. IKU activities in the area include moose and elk hunting and breeding grounds, harvesting of medicinal plants, berries, and timber, bird harvesting and migration, as well as fishing and trapping on the North Saskatchewan River.
The Alford section similarly intersects an area of concentrated historical and current Ermineskin Cree Nation IKU in the areas to the southwest of Rocky Mountain House, around Cow Lake, west of Caroline, and in the area around Ram Falls. This area is accessed primarily via Corkscrew Road and the Forestry Trunk Road. The primary IKU activities in the area are moose and elk hunting and harvesting medicinal plants and berries, as well as fishing in the nearby lakes. The McLeod River, Deep Valley, and Karr sections are used less intensively than the sections to the south of Edson. This area is accessed via the Forestry Trunk Road and Highway 40. The sections intersect important big-game hunting grounds between Whitecourt, Fox Creek, and Grande Cache, as well as fishing in the Simonette and Smoky Rivers, and the harvesting of berries and medicines.
Finally, the Valhalla and Elmworth sections are the ones with the lowest concentrations of Ermineskin Cree Nation IKU in and around the Project RoWs and buffers. IKU activities in the area include big game hunting, particularly for moose around Bear Lake, fungus and other
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medicinal plants around Pipestone Creek, and medicinal plants and ceremonies near Horse Lake and Kelly Lake. This northern portion of the Project area, moreover, is one that Ermineskin Cree Nation hunters and harvesters are travelling to more frequently as they are pushed farther and father north by the cumulative effects of oil and gas, forestry, coal, and other industrial disturbances on the Crown lands in the eastern foothills.
Indeed, cumulative effects are one of the principal concerns of Ermineskin Cree Nation. Figure 4 depicts the cumulative oil and gas disturbances in and around the Project areas, with a 500- meter buffer placed around all oil and gas facilities, well pads and oil wells, and pipelines. As one can see, the areas in and around the proposed Project have been intensively developed by the oil and gas industry, which does not include the significant disturbances caused by forestry and coal mining in the more southern portions of the foothills. In fact, Ermineskin Cree Nation members have recently found themselves travelling as far as High Level to find more pristine and intact environments and more plentiful big game. Over the past ten years, hunters in the community have organized large hunting trips to the area to harvest buffalo and other big game. This annual hunt has become a major source of meat not only for hunters but for the community networks provisioned by the community hunters.
Potential Project Impacts and Mitigation
On the basis of IKU intersections with the proposed Project RoW and buffer and the reconnaissance visit conducted by Ermineskin Cree Nation in 2018, this report identifies the following preliminary potential impacts and concerns:
• Loss of habitat and vegetation, which could reduce the availability of big game, berries, and medicines available to Ermineskin harvesters; in particular the 2018 reconnaissance visit found considerable quantities of sweet pine in certain areas of the pipeline RoW, which is used for ceremonies;
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• Linear disturbances and habitat fragmentation, which could increase the prevalence and success of predators and reduce big game in and around the Project RoW, as well as impact wild horses, a herd of which was observed by Ermineskin Cree Nation in 2018 north of Highway 11 in the high country; moreover, Ermineskin Cree Nation identified corridors with three-to-four pipeline RoWs, which the Nation is concerned would not be able to support wetlands or riparian ecosystems;
• Increased traffic and noise, which could reduce the availability of big game in and around the Project RoW, as well as impact the peacefulness and experience of being out on the land;
• Alteration of the Visual Quality of the Landscape, which could alter and disturb the experience of being on the land for Ermineskin harvesters;
• Use of Herbicides, which could affect the water quality and the health and safety of traditional resources in and around the Project RoW;
• Potential Leaks and Ruptures, which could affect water quality and the health and safety of traditional resources in the region;
• Access, related to which Ermineskin has several concerns. During the 2018 reconnaissance visit, radios were required to call into almost every road along the pipeline RoW, which is unsafe for Elders and land users during working hours; as well, Ermineskin Cree Nation observed instances of cattle ranching and horses on the pipeline RoW that rendered areas inaccessible;
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• Lack of Respect: Ermineskin Cree Nation experienced a lack of respect from oil and gas companies, trapline holders, and truck drivers when attempting to access staging areas during the reconnaissance trip; the Nation would like the Proponent to improve communications with relevant parties prior to the site assessment in the summer of 2019;
• Contribution to Cumulative Effects in areas that are already heavily impacted by oil and gas, forestry, and other industrial development. Cumulative effects in the area are of great interest to Ermineskin harvesters who are presently experiencing intense cumulative effects in the foothills south of Hinton and who find themselves travelling increasing distances to exercise their Treaty and constitutionally protected Aboriginal rights and practice their traditional culture and way of life; during the 2018 reconnaissance visit, for instance, Ermineskin Cree Nation saw no moose or elk and one juvenile black bear, as well as a lot of recreational campers using quads and side-by-side trails from Elk River south to Caroline;
On the basis of the potential Project impacts to Ermineskin Cree Nation IKU and the 2018 reconnaissance visit, Ermineskin Cree Nation would like to make the following list of preliminary recommendations to the Proponent for mitigation:
Recommendation 1: Continue to consult and work with Ermineskin Cree Nation throughout the life cycle of the Project in a respectful manner, including the notification of all contractors and workers for the Project that this is Treaty Land and that they should be respectful of the First Nations in area who exercise Treaty and constitutionally protected right to use the land in the Project area for subsistence purposes;
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Recommendation 2: Work with Ermineskin Cree Nation to develop a communications plan for the construction phase and for the operations phase in the event of a detection of leaks or a pipeline spill;
Recommendation 3: Work with Ermineskin Cree Nation to implement conservation and reclamation planning for the Project;
Recommendation 4: Provide logistical and financial support for Ermineskin Cree Nation land users and Elders to harvest culturally significant and sensitive plants on the Project RoW prior to clearing and construction;
Recommendation 5: Provide logistical and financial support for Ermineskin Cree Nation to gather seeds from Indigenous plant species in the area to be conserved for transplant as part of remediation and reclamation;
Recommendation 6: The Proponent and its contractors should work closely with Alberta Fish and Wildlife to protect bear and wolf dens, and or any other sensitive animal or plant ecosystems that may be near the pipeline RoW that could be negatively affected;
Recommendation 7: The Proponent should adhere to all regulatory requirements and follow industry best practices regarding leak detection and pipeline and water monitoring;
Recommendation 8:ˆWherever mineral licks and discharge areas for natural springs are identified, the Proponent should use rig mats to protect against the threat of traffic on the RoW;
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Recommendation 9: Utilize amphibian relocation measures and fish counts for fish relocation or disturbances along the pipeline RoW;
Recommendation 10: Utilize openings along soil piles to allow animals to cross the Project RoW;
Recommendation 11: Account for all cubes of frac-outs;
Recommendation 12: In recognition of the cumulative effects to the Treaty and Aboriginal rights of Ermineskin Cree Nation, the Proponent and its subcontractors should work with Ermineskin Cree Nation to identify and disseminate employment opportunities for the proposed Project, as well as prioritize the hiring of Ermineskin Cree Nation community members for Project activities;
Recommendation 13: Ermineskin Cree Nation and its members are interested in participating as environmental monitors during the construction phase. The Proponent should consult with the Nation and prioritize the hiring of Nation members for construction-phase monitoring activities;
Recommendation 14: The Proponent should work with its subcontractors and Ermineskin Cree Nation to identify contracting opportunities, application requirements, and eligible Nation-owned businesses for the proposed Project. Insofar as possible, Ermineskin Cree Nation-owned businesses should be prioritized by the Proponent and its subcontractors;
Recommendation 15: Work safely and treat each other with respect.
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Conclusion
The proposed 2021 NGTL Expansion and the Edson Mainline Expansion projects are situated within the traditional territory of the Ermineskin Cree Nation, whose members continue to travel to, use, and occupy the Project areas to exercise their constitutionally protected Treaty and Aboriginal rights and practice their traditional culture and way of life. Cross-referencing of the Ermineskin Cree Nation IKU database found 146 point, line, and polygon intersections with the proposed RoW buffer. While this report was produced within an extremely short timeline and with limited resources and the findings should be considered preliminary and incomplete, the report nevertheless provides clear evidence of significant historical and current IKU in and around the Project RoW. Ermineskin Cree Nation will complete a full site visit and assessment in the summer of 2019.
On the basis of the work completed so far, Ermineskin Cree Nation identified 9 potential negative impacts of the proposed Project on the constitutionally protected Treaty and Aboriginal rights and way of life and culture of the Nation. In response, the report has detailed 15 preliminary mitigation measures designed to minimize the potentially negative effects of the Project and maximize its potentially positive effects for the Nation.
This report is based upon the Traditional Knowledge of Ermineskin Cree Nation and should be understood as a dynamic and living document that is subject to revision and update over time.
NOTES
i Freeman, Milton M.R. (ed.), Inuit Land Use and Occupancy Project, Volumes 1-3 (Ottawa: Supply and Services Canada, 1976); Freeman, Milton M.R., “Looking Back – and Looking Ahead – 35 Years After the Inuit Land Use and Occupancy Project,” The Canadian Geographer 55, no. 1 (2011), pp. 20-31. ii Tobias, Terry, Living Proof: The Essential Data Collection Guide for Indigenous Use and Occupancy Mapping, Research Design, and Data Collection (Vancouver: Ecotrust Canada / Union of British Columbia Chiefs, 2010).
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iii See Thom, Brian and Washbrook, Kevin, Co-Management, Negotiation, Litigation: Questions of Power in Traditional Use Studies, paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology, Seattle, Washington, March 1997; Natcher, David, “Land Use Research and the Duty to Consult: A Misrepresentation of the Aboriginal Landscape,” Land Use Policy 18, no. 2 (2001), pp. 113-122. iv SDIKU-INTERVIEW3-P35. v See Usher, Peter, Frank Tough, and R.M. Galois, “Reclaiming the Land: Aboriginal Title, Treaty Rights, and Land Claims in Canada,” Applied Geography 12, no. 2 (1992), pp. 109-132. vi These distinctions are based upon – and modify – those made by the Integral Ecology Group. vii Calliou, B.L., Losing the Game: Wildlife Conservation and the Regulation of First Nations Hunting in Alberta, 1880-1930 (Edmonton: University of Alberta, 2000); Clark, Timothy David, McMurray Métis Cultural Impact Assessment of the Suncor Voyageur South Mine, submitted to McMurray Métis Local 1935, 2017; Dyck, T., Berg, K., Berryman, S., Garibaldi, A., and Straker, J., Fort McKay First Nation Cultural Impact Assessment: Teck Frontier Oil Sands Mine, submitted to Fort McKay First Nation, 2016; Labour, Sherri, Cumulative Impacts to FMFN#468 Traditional Lands and Lifeways, submitted to Fort McMurray First Nation 468, 2012. viii SDIKU-INTERVIEW3-PAGE14. ix Chapman, G. and Gilligan, J., WMU 512 Crow Lake Aerial Moose Survey (Edmonton: Alberta Environment and Sustainable Development, 2013); Charest, K.S., Changes in Moose and White-Tailed Deer Abundance in Northeastern Alberta and the Relationship to Cumulative Impacts, M.Sc. thesis, University of Alberta, 2005; Dyer, S.J., O’Neill, J.P., Wasel, S.M., and Boutin, S., “Avoidance of Industrial Developments by Woodland Caribou,” The Journal of Wildlife Management 65, no. 3 (2001): 531-542; James, A.R.C. and Stuart-Smith, K., “Distribution of Caribou and Wolves in Relation to Linear Corridors,” The Journal of Wildlife Management 64, no. 1 (2000): 154- 159; Jarnevich, C.S. and Laubhan, M.K., “Balancing Energy Development and Conservation: A Method Utilizing Species Distribution Models,” Environmental Management 47 (2011): 926-936; Nielsen, S., Bayne, E., Schieck, J. Herbers, J., and Boutin, S., “A New Method to Estimate Species and Biodiversity Intactness Using Empirically Derived Reference Conditions,” Biological Conservation 137 (2007): 403-414; Timoney, K.P. and Roncini R.A., “Annual Bird Mortality in the Bitumen Tailings Ponds in Northeastern Alberta, Canada,” The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 122, no. 3 (2010): 569-576. x SDIKU-INTERVIEW1-PAGE8. xi SDIKU-INTERVIEW1-PAGE10. xii CA-26-P11. xiii Simpson, George. An Overland Journey Round the World: During the Years 1841 and 1842 (Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1843), p. 70. xiv Hugh Dempsey, Maskepetoon: Leader, Warrior, Peacemaker (Toronto: Heritage House, 2010)
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xv John S. Milloy, The Plains Cree: Trade, Diplomacy, and War from 1790 to 1870 (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press 1988), p. 24; David G. Mandelbaum, The Plains Cree: An Ethnographic, Historical, and Comparative Study (Regina: University of Regina, 1979), p. 13. xvi CA-33-P5. xvii Dempsey, Hugh. Maskepetoon: Leader, Warrior, Peacemaker, p. 21; Dempsey, Hugh. A History of Bobtail and the Bear Hills Cree to 1885, prepared for Ermineskin Cree Nation, February 2002. xviii Hutchinson, Gerald M. and Hugh Dempsey. The Rundle Journals (Calgary: Historical Society of Alberta, 1977), pp. 136-137 and 259-270; Dempsey, Maskepetoon, p. 21; Jones, Gwynneth. Chief Bobtail, the Maskwachees Cree, the Department of Indian Affairs, and the Bobtail Indian Reserve 139: A Historical Chronology of Developments Prior to the Surrender of June, 1909, prepared for Ermineskin Cree Nation, February 2002, pp. 1-8. xix CA-33-P6. xx Mandelbaum, The Plains Cree; Jones, Chief Bobtail. xxi Hugh Dempsey, Big Bear: The End of Freedom (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1984), p. 39 and 43; McDougall, John. Pathfinding on Plain and Prairie: Stirring Scenes of Life in the Canadian Northwest (Whitefish: Kessinger Publishing, 1898), pp. 69-70; Hutchinson and Dempsey, The Rundle Journals, p. 132. xxii CA-33-P15. xxiii Ahenakew, Edward. Voice of the Plains Cree (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1973), p. 169. xxiv Dempsey, Maskepetoon, p. 44. xxv CA-33-P12; Johnson, Paulina. E-kawôtiniket 1876: Reclaiming Nêhiyaw Governance in the Territory of Maskwacîs through Wâhkôtowin (Kinship), Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of Western Ontario, 2017, p. 23. xxvi CA-33-P8. xxvii Simpson, An Overland Journey, p. 73. xxviii Holmgren, Eric J. and Patricia M. Holmgren. 2,000 Place Names of Alberta (Saskatoon: Modern Press, 1972), p. 143; Dempsey, Maskepetoon, p. 80. xxix Jones, Chief Bobtail, p. 4; Goyette, Linda. Rocky Mountain Kids (Victoria: Brindle and Glass, 2008), pp. 28-29.
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