In Alberta, companies may be required to conduct a historic resource assessment before working on an undeveloped site. Such requirements are common in the oilsands region, which is considered to have one of the highest densities of archeological sites in Canada. An Alberta First Nation in the province's oilsands region is seeking more control over the traces left by ancestors on their traditional lands.
"It's been almost 50 years since were established, and they haven't been fundamentally revised. We are at a point now where they're getting in the way of Indigenous rights."In Alberta and most provinces companies may be required to conduct a historic resource assessment before working on an undeveloped site. Such requirements are common in the oilsands region, considered to have one of the highest densities of archeological sites in Canada.
Kisha Supernant is director of the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology at the University of Alberta. If something is found, a government agency evaluates its importance, rules on to what extent it's excavated, and takes possession of the artifact. Nor is checking in with local First Nations during a dig required by law. Companies may hire local help, but that's not the same, said Ave Dersch, an archeologist who works with Chipewyan Prairie.
"That blueberry patch would have fed my grandfather and my grandfather's dad, through generation to generation," Janvier said. "Even though the reclaim part of process says they're going to put the land back, it's never the original." " government has made information on archeological investigations and reports broadly available to Indigenous communities."Alberta has about 40,000 archeological sites. Nobody expects them all to be fully excavated and communities may not want them to be.