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Environmental history of bison conservation in Canada

I will be primarily responsible for writing the section ‘Interactions Aboriginal peoples, preservationists, and government officials in bison conservation efforts.’ I will also contribute to subsections on social ecology and the social, cultural, and political forces that shaped federal wildlife policy. In particular, I will investigate the process of internal colonialism, which allowed for the assertion of state authority over the traditional hunting cultures of the Cree, Dene, and Inuit peoples. My interest lies in the impact of colonization and modernization on Aboriginal food systems and culture.

Proposed Outline

Historical decline of the North American bison population
- Plains bison – importance and symbolism
- Wood bison – importance and symbolism
- Social ecology – importance to indigenous people
- Evolution of hunting practices
- Implications for preservation efforts

Origins of wildlife preservation in Canada
- Ideological development of the wildlife conservation movement
- Contradictions

The evolution of federal government wildlife policy in Canada
- Trajectory: preservation → utilitarian conservation → rational, scientific, bureaucratic management that promoted domestication of wildlife and Native people
- Goals: preservation of wilderness and wildlife; recreational, commercialization, assertion of state authority and control over wildlife and Native people
- Contradictions in policies
- Social, cultural, and political forces – disdain for Native hunting cultures, assertion of state authority, influence of scientific knowledge, modernization agenda for Canada’s north
- Significance and legacies over the long term – historical and cultural implications

National Parks
- Buffalo National Park in Wainwright, Alberta
- Wood Bison National Park in northeastern Alberta and southern Northwest Territories
- 1925-28: Transfer of plains bison from the overpopulated range in Buffalo National Park to the supposedly understocked range in Wood Buffalo National Park resulted in hybridization between the species and the infection of the northern herds with tuberculosis and brucellosis (Sandlos, 2002, 95).

Interactions between Aboriginal peoples, preservationists, and government officials
- Cultural and ecological interactions between Native Americans and Euroamericans in the Great Plains
- Historical conflict between Native hunters and conservationists over bison
- Assertion of state authority over the traditional hunting cultures of the Cree, Dene, and Inuit peoples
- Social, cultural, political, and economic implications for Aboriginals
- Ecological implications for bison populations

Contemporary bison conservation
- Significance and legacies
- Current conservation efforts – plans to reintroduce bison to Banff National Park

--Sara Binns (talk) 00:10, 9 March 2012 (UTC)

Historical decline of the North American bison population

Social ecology

Aboriginal worldviews emphasize wholeness and connectedness among all life forms. Aboriginals had a reciprocal relationship with the bison, based on interdependence and sustainability. Traditional governing structures ensured the continuity of resource use over time, allowing Aboriginals to adapt to frequent, unpredictable changes in the environment.^[1] In Canada, northern Aboriginals had a subsistence culture based on local hunting and trapping economies. The traditional hunting cultures of the Cree, Dene, and Inuit peoples came into direct conflict with the Canadian federal government’s wildlife conservation programs, as life on the land was impossible without access to animals.^[2]

Interactions between Aboriginals, preservationists, and government officials

Historical conflicts over bison

The traditional hunting cultures of the Cree, Dene, and Inuit peoples came into direct conflict with the Canadian federal government’s wildlife conservation programs.^[3] Social conflicts arose over the issues of control of and access to bison for the purposes of subsistence food or commodity production. Conflicts occurred between Aboriginal hunters, government officials, and park administrators due to divergent approaches to managing and utilizing wildlife resources. The utilitarian, scientific conservation approach employed by federal bison management programs was incompatible with the traditional hunting cultures of northern Aboriginals. However, Cree, Dene, and Inuit communities that hunted and trapped in Wood Buffalo Park “formally resisted their marginalization from federal wildlife conservation programs through letters, petitions, and boycotts of treaty payments.”^[4] Less formally, many Aboriginal hunters simply refused to obey the wildlife laws, exercising their traditional right to hunt bison.

Assertion of state control over Aboriginal hunters

According to historian John Sandlos, the introduction of national parks and game regulations was central to the assertion of state authority over the traditional hunting cultures of the Cree, Dene, and Inuit peoples.^[5] Sandlos argues that the early wildlife conservation movement was shaped by the “civilizing ideology” of the Canadian government’s colonial agenda.^[6] The presence of Aboriginal hunters in the Northwest Territories was considered detrimental to the government’s utilitarian, scientific approach wildlife management, which was designed to produce a surplus of bison to be exploited as commodities. Federal wildlife officials portrayed Aboriginal hunters as a having destructive influence on bison populations, which legitimized the assertion of state control over the subsistence cultures of the Cree, Dene, and Inuit.^[7] The cultural stereotype that viewed Aboriginal hunting practices as reckless, immoral, and wasteful became firmly entrenched within bison conservation programs. Federal officials viewed Aboriginal hunters a threat to their wildlife management and development schemes for the north, and therefore, subjected them regulation and control.^[8]

The 1894 Unorganized Territories Game Preservation Act introduced regulations that severely limited the ability of the Cree, Dene, and Inuit peoples to access wildlife on their traditional territories.^[9] By the 1920s, Aboriginals were excluded from their hunting and trapping grounds contained in Wood Buffalo National Park. The establishment of a game warden service in the park allowed for direct surveillance and supervisory control over Aboriginal hunters.^[10] As a result, the most basic elements of the Aboriginal subsistence cycle, including seasonal movements, fur trapping, and the gathering of food, were redefined as criminal activities through federal game regulations.^[11] According to Sandlos, attitudes towards Cree, Dene, and Inuit hunters were socially constructed and flawed due to observer bias, racial stereotyping, and inaccurate reporting by park officials.^[12] Furthermore, Sandlos emphasizes that incidents of wildlife overkill does not undermine the right or ability of Aboriginal hunters to manage local bison populations in partnership with government experts.^[13]

The proposed bison ranching schemes in Wood Buffalo National Park required a complete transformation of the economic and social lives of Dene and Inuit hunters. The intensive management of bison for the purposes of commodity production entailed the introduction of capitalism, marginalization of the local hunting and trapping economy, and conversion of Aboriginal hunters into wage labourers.^[14] Federal wildlife officials hoped that the introduction of a northern ranching economy would persuade Aboriginals to give up hunting and trapping in favour of more stable, productive lives as labourers or ranchers.^[15] By the 1950s, state policies controlled nearly every aspect of the social, cultural, and material lives of northern Aboriginals. While many Aboriginals were encouraged to assimilate into the modern industrial economy, others became dependent wards of the state through relocation onto reserves or re-education in residential schools.^[16]

Ecological implications for bison populations

Early conservation efforts to preserve the iconic bison were ultimately undermined by the federal government’s goal of domesticating northern bison populations for commercial purposes. The utilitarian, scientific approach to bison management prevented the state from comprehending the complexity of local ecosystems and human cultures.^[17] The narrow focus on production resulted in poor federal wildlife management decisions, such as the transfer of thousands of plains bison from the overpopulated range in Buffalo National Park to the supposedly understocked range in Wood Buffalo National.^[18] The transfer had disastrous ecological consequences, including hybridization between the plains and wood bison species and the infection of the northern herds with tuberculosis and brucellosis. ^[19]

References

^ Isenberg, Andrew. The Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental History, 1750-1920. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
^ Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007.
^ Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 16.
^ Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 8.
^ Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007.
^ Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 6.
^ Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 12.
^ Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007.
^ Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007.
^ Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007.
^ Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 236.
^ Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 19.
^ Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 20.
^ Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 236.
^ Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 238.
^ Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 242.
^ Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 234..
^ Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 234.
^ Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 95.

[1] Isenberg, Andrew. The Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental History, 1750-1920. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

[2] Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007.

[3] Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 16.

[4] Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 8.

[5] Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007.

[6] Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 6.

[7] Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 12.

[8] Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007.

[9] Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007.

[10] Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007.

[11] Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 236.

[12] Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 19.

[13] Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 20.

[14] Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 236.

[15] Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 238.

[16] Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 242.

[17] Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 234..

[18] Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 234.

[19] Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007, p. 95.

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