History of bison conservation in Canada
In the 20th century, the Canadian government's conservationist policies that restricted hunting and requisitioned land to preserve as national parks made it even more difficult for Aboriginals to remain self-sufficient.
[19] Industrialization played a role, with the expansion of railroads providing access into bison areas, commercial hunting (sometimes from the railcars), and the fur trade market.
[23] During most of the 19th century, wildlife preservation was not a goal of the federal government because of its belief in the superabundance of natural resources, the fact of wilderness frontiers, and a political climate that emphasized development and exploitation of land for human use.
Several government civil servants promoted these goals, such as Robert Campbell, a Canadian Forestry Branch Director; Gordon Hewitt, a Dominion entomologist; and James Harkin, the first Parks Commissioner, who expressed strong conservationist philosophies.
Canada's wildlife conservation movement demonstrates how a small faction of dedicated civil servants transformed their own goals of preserving endangered species into active government policy.
[33] Preservation was the main focus of management up to World War II, which was accomplished by "feeding the bison, shooting carnivores that preyed on them, and patrolling for poachers.
[40] Canadian biologist William Fuller conducted a study for the Wildlife Service that demonstrated that tuberculosis found among the hybridized bison in the north helped maintain stable numbers in the park.
[44] Aboriginal people were excluded from national parks, not for the sake of preserving wilderness, but in the "interests of game conservation, sport hunting, tourism, and Indian assimilation.
[48] Thus, the goal of the federal government was to create an environment with an abundance of wildlife attractions for sports hunting and tourism, and to assimilate Aboriginal people into Euro-Canadian society.
The preservation of the wood bison in northern Canada was implied by the strict federal control of traditional Aboriginal hunting practices through the creation of a wildlife sanctuary.
[68] The national park was created to preserve the plains bison that were on the brink of extinction in the mid-1880s, due mostly to systematic slaughter, increased settlement, and technological advances in hunting practices.
[72] The park area incorporated relatively poor agricultural land; coupled with overpopulation, the range degraded and disease was spread more easily among the bison.
In August 1990, a review panel supported by the federal government recommended introduction of disease-free wood bison from Elk Island National Park and potentially elsewhere, but there was a quick and negative public response, and no action was taken.
The Cree, Dene, and Inuit communities that hunted and trapped in Wood Buffalo Park formally resisted government policy by writing letters, signing petitions, and boycotting treaty payments.
[79] 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.
[80] According to historian John 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.
[81] 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.
[82] According to 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.
[84] The presence of Aboriginal hunters in the Northwest Territories was considered detrimental to the government's utilitarian and scientific approach to wildlife management, which was designed to produce a surplus of bison which could then be exploited as commodities.
Federal wildlife officials portrayed Aboriginal hunters as having a destructive influence on bison populations, which legitimized the assertion of state control over the subsistence cultures of the Cree, Dene, and Inuit.
[86] 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.
[87] 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.
[89] The lack of control over traditional territories and subsistence food resources became a political issue, impacting Aboriginal self-determination, cultural continuity, and health status.
Many Aboriginal groups had become nomadic bison hunters in response to Euroamerican westward expansion and economic development, which had made the robe trade highly lucrative.
[94] 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.
Goals include conservation of the plains bison, a native keystone species, as well as ecological restoration, inspiring discovery, and providing an "authentic national park experience.
[98] Despite the development of co-management regimes and increased Aboriginal participation in the wildlife policy process, the colonial legacy of the state management era still lingers.
Sandlos suggests that the advisory nature of co-management boards is based on the implicit colonial assumption that local Aboriginal resource management systems are deficient, and that the role of the state is essential to the formation of wildlife policy in Canada's north.
Today, conservation groups are increasingly focusing on preservation of bison a native species and conducting research to prove their status as endangered animals.
