Parks Canada says the creation of Canada's national parks caused lasting harm to indigenous communities and amounted to a "colonial injustice," according to an internal report that was kept from public view for two years before being quietly released last month.Blacklock's Reporter says the 2024 report, Evaluation of the Indigenous Guardians Initiative Internal Review, states that the establishment of national parks disrupted longstanding relationships between indigenous peoples and the land through exclusionary government policies."Beginning in the 19th century the development of national parks and protected areas in Canada disrupted these relationships through exclusion and colonial injustices," the report states.It adds that indigenous people were "forcibly removed from their homes, denied access to traditional territories and prohibited from hunting and harvesting on park lands" as national parks were established.The report was released without comment on June 22.Canada's first national park was established in Banff, through an Act of Parliament in 1887.According to the report, members of the Stoney Nakoda Nation were prevented from continuing their traditional use of the land after the park was created."These laws, practices and policies caused historic and ongoing harm for indigenous communities," the report states. "They eroded indigenous systems."Parks Canada says it now acknowledges the impact those historic policies had on indigenous languages, cultures, legal traditions and systems of governance.The report also outlines a $61.7-million, four-year initiative to support between 30 and 34 new or expanded indigenous-led programs within Canada's national parks..Among the examples cited is funding for the Tsuut'ina Nation to conduct a ceremonial bison harvest in Banff National Park.The report reflects a broader shift in how the federal government approaches Canadian history.In its 2019 Framework for History and Commemoration, the federal government directed departments to examine Canada's historical narratives through the lens of colonialism, patriarchy and racism.The framework states those ideologies have left "profound legacies" throughout Canadian history.That same year, the National Historic Sites and Monuments Board wrote that no historic designation should be considered beyond review."Nothing can be immune from review," the board stated. "Every designation can be re-evaluated."The approach has since resulted in changes to several Parks Canada management plans.A 2024 update to the management plan for Green Gables Heritage Place in Prince Edward Island calls for greater representation of cultures "not currently presented at the site," including Acadians, black Canadians, indigenous people and other communities.Parks Canada also revised the management plan for the Motherwell Homestead National Historic Site in Saskatchewan to include what it describes as historical inequities on the Prairies, including the treatment of indigenous people.The homestead commemorates William Motherwell, Saskatchewan's first agriculture minister and a co-founder of the Grain Growers Association.
