Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation tells a story from the 1990s about how he had received some moose meat from a friend who had hunted the moose in Wood Buffalo National Park.

Adam fried it, boiled potatoes and served the meal to his grandmother, who was thrilled to be eating moose meat. That is until she found out where the moose had been shot. She stopped eating and pushed her plate away.

SA国际影视传媒淚 couldnSA国际影视传媒檛 understand why she did that. When I asked what was wrong, she didnSA国际影视传媒檛 say nothing at first. But then finally she came out and told me and she said it all in Dene and it was hard for me to understand our fluent language at the time. But she spoke it clearly and I understood the majority,SA国际影视传媒� said Adam.

His father filled in the rest.

GrannySA国际影视传媒檚 family was from Birch River in the park. They were kicked out and never allowed to return. It turned out Granny Helene PicheSA国际影视传媒檚 story was not unique for the Elders of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN).

ItSA国际影视传媒檚 the history of the park that Parks Canada never tells. But itSA国际影视传媒檚 being told now in the new book Remembering Our Relations: Denesuline Oral Histories of Wood Buffalo National Park.

SA国际影视传媒淲ood Buffalo National Park (WBNP) was the heart of the Dene homelands, and when it was removed, Dene people suffered,SA国际影视传媒� states the book. The Dene communitySA国际影视传媒檚 homelands were divided and taken up for the establishment and subsequent expansion of the park in the 1920s.

Adam wrote the Foreword for the book. He spoke passionately about what he learned of his grandmotherSA国际影视传媒檚 story when he was 34 years old.

SA国际影视传媒淚 didnSA国际影视传媒檛 even know my granny resided in Birch River and the House Lake area. I didnSA国际影视传媒檛 even know she had a two-story cabin. She had a garden and everything and all this stuff. I didnSA国际影视传媒檛 know she had all that stuff whatsoever,SA国际影视传媒� said Adam.

The book, released late last year, began as a research project for a report entitled SA国际影视传媒淎 History of Wood Buffalo National ParkSA国际影视传媒檚 Relations with the Denes懦艂谋ne.SA国际影视传媒� The 2021 report documented the harmful intergenerational impacts of removing the Dene people from their land to create CanadaSA国际影视传媒檚 largest national park. The report was intended to inform negotiations for a formal apology and reparations from the federal government.

Powerful accounts

However, Lisa Tssessaze, director of Dene Lands and Resource Management Department with ACFN suggested the report be made into something more to highlight and honour the oral history and testimony of the community.

So, the untold story of the origins of the park in northern Alberta came to be captured by the heartbreaking and powerful accounts of leaders and Elders of ACFN.

SA国际影视传媒淥ral history,SA国际影视传媒� reads the book, SA国际影视传媒渉ighlights the exclusions and injustice at the heart of the WBNP history as it is remembered by the Denesuline people.SA国际影视传媒�

Wood Buffalo National Park extends nearly 45,000 square-kilometres of northern boreal plains and forest, encompassing vast wetlands, grasslands, and salt plains, the Caribou and Birch Mountains and several key river systems in the region. It crosses the border of Alberta into the Northwest Territories.

The park is also located in the heart of the traditional territories and homelands of at least 11 Dene, Metis, and Cree communities, who have inhabited the region for generations and whose lands and waterways were taken up for the creation of the park despite clearly voicing their dissent.

The park was established in 1922. The borders were expanded south of the Peace River in 1926 as the 6,673 plains bison, imported from Wainwright in 1925, pushed past the original park boundaries.

After the annex, a strict permitting system regulated access and land use in the expanded park, including for the Indigenous peoples whose rights were protected under Treaty 8. While treaty harvesters had been permitted to remain in the original park boundaries from 1922 to 1926, only those living or actively harvesting within the expanded boundaries in 1926 could apply for permits to continue harvesting there or even to visit family in the park.

The Dene community was split between those with and without access to the park as many Dene families who had resided and harvested primarily south of the Peace River saw their rights and access to their homelands eroded and restricted.

Wardens and their supervisors worked with the to revoke Indigenous individualsSA国际影视传媒� permits to hunt, trap, and travel the land and had the power to fine and jail land users should they be found breaking the rules.

In 1944 half the Chipewyan Band population still living in WBNP was transferred to the treaty annuity payment list of the Cree Band, who had for the most part been granted permits to remain in the park. Numerous Denesuline residents and families were denied access to the park or evicted from their homes after this transfer. If they refused to transfer bands, they had to abandon their land-use areas and homes in the park.

SA国际影视传媒業nstrument of colonial powerSA国际影视传媒�

Dene people denied access to the park faced severe hardship and sometimes starvation, especially from the 1930s to 1980s.

SA国际影视传媒淚n effect,SA国际影视传媒� says the book, SA国际影视传媒渢he park became an instrument of colonial power in Denesuline homelands after 1922.SA国际影视传媒� Indigenous peoples were expelled from the park in the name of conservation and tourism.

After learning his grannySA国际影视传媒檚 story, Adam says he went to the park and started hunting.

SA国际影视传媒淚 wanted to deliberately get caught, which never happened. (I wanted) to prove to them that this was our homeland and that I decided to go home. But it never happened,SA国际影视传媒� he said.

SA国际影视传媒淏ut instead what transpired (was) that we end up telling the story about what theySA国际影视传媒檝e done to our people and what theySA国际影视传媒檝e done to my grandmother because my grandmother was 21 years old when it all happened,SA国际影视传媒� he said.

The oral histories collected in this book talk about the alienation from community, family and homelands. They talk about loss of culture and homes and ways of doing things. They talk about forced displacement, evictions and the criminalization of their way of life.

Adam says it was difficult for some Elders to talk about what happened to them.

SA国际影视传媒淪ome of them said they wanted to bury it. They didnSA国际影视传媒檛 want it to be told because they didnSA国际影视传媒檛 want the history to come back,SA国际影视传媒� said Adam. SA国际影视传媒淏ut you have to tell the story about what happened, because only then people will understand why we are in the situation that we are in today. And the only way that we could correct it is that we have to tell the story about what put us here in the first place.SA国际影视传媒�

However, once the Elders started speaking, it didnSA国际影视传媒檛 take long for the stories to be collected.

SA国际影视传媒淭hese (stories) go back a long waysSA国际影视传媒� and to conclude (the book) in three years tells you that the people still have it freshly buried in their mind,SA国际影视传媒� said Adam.

Issues remain unresolved between the ACFN and Canada, he said. Those issues include recognition of the land and the people and historic grievances.

SA国际影视传媒淲e want to return to the place where we were and pay homage to the dead that we left behind when we were removed from that settlementSA国际影视传媒� not only one, but two settlements,SA国际影视传媒� said Adam.

He urges Canada to SA国际影视传媒渢o put this issue to restSA国际影视传媒� because ACFN will not stop talking about it, both nationally and internationally, and SA国际影视传媒渋t remains a black eye to Canada.SA国际影视传媒�

As the book concludes, SA国际影视传媒淢embers of ACFN suggest that the new co-management and reconciliation agendas (for the park) must do more to acknowledge and amend the past and work toward genuine, transformative efforts that centre Indigenous governance and self-determination.SA国际影视传媒�

Adam wants Remembering Our Relations to SA国际影视传媒渙pen the eyes of every traveller that will pick up a book and read it and find out the history about this area.SA国际影视传媒�

However, he doesnSA国际影视传媒檛 want that to be the only message this book delivers.

SA国际影视传媒淚 think that they would look towards the Nation about how resilience really pans out when you are determined to survive the outcome of being displaced time and time again, and how we came to be who we are today, and what our ambitions are to look forward for the future,SA国际影视传媒� said Adam.

SA国际影视传媒擝y Shari Narine, Local Journalism Initiative reporter, Windspeaker.com