A local entrepreneur in Fort Smith, NWT is seeking recognition of its harvest rights and an apology from Parks Canada after receiving a letter from a warden asking it to stop collecting salt from Wood Buffalo National Park.
Melissa Daniels is a member of the Athabasca Chipeuyang First Nation (ACFN). She uses the salt from Wood Buffalo’s salt planes in a bath product for her line of skin care products.
“Canada is trying to destroy my contractual rights to harvest from my traditional territory, something that has been agreed with the Crown since 1899, but has been practiced since time immemorial,” she told CBC Trailbreaker presenter Lauren McGinnis.
The letter, which Daniels posted on Twitter, was written by a Parks Canada manager congratulating her on her successful small business. He then asked her to stop removing salt from the park, citing a national regulation and Parks Canada’s responsibility to protect the “environmental integrity” of the salt plains.
View of the salt flats in Wood Buffalo National Park. (Submitted by Melissa Daniels)
Daniels said the letter illustrates why her community is pushing for an apology and reparations from Canada for the historic relocation and waiver of their rights to harvest the park.
A report on the history of Wood Buffalo, published by Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation last year, said that “current strategies for joint management of the park are not adequate to deal meaningfully with the violent, difficult history of the park and its direct and cumulative intergenerational impacts on the peoples of Denesuline. ”
Memories of Gandhi
In a press release, ACFN leader Alan Adam compared Daniel’s situation to the Salt March led by Mahatma Gandhi in 1930, protesting against British colonial law banning people in India from extracting salt.
“The law has become a symbol of everything that was unjust in the colonial system,” Adams said.
Daniels said the letter did not mention the fact that she was a member of Athabasca Chipeuyang’s First Nation, adding that she “constitutionally confirmed the inherent rights of indigenous peoples and the treaty to use this land, which actually replaces all regulations for the park.”
In a statement, Parks Canada spokesman Tim Gauthier wrote that they prefer to deal with “such issues” through dialogue with indigenous partners, and regrets that this did not happen.
However, the statement said that “commercial salt production in the national park, which is also a World Heritage Site, is currently not allowed.”
Naidié Nezų Borealis Bath Mix contains three types of salt, hand-picked flowers, calamine powder and colloidal oatmeal. (Naidi Nezų)
Daniels opposes the term “commercial”, noting that business and harvesting practices are based on the Dene Act and that its products will never be mass-produced.
She said products, including her salt bath, are a way to reconnect people to the land, especially Dene, who can’t go out and collect medicines for traditional use. The salt it collects is only part of a product made for Naidié Nezų, Daniels said.
“The implication that my land-based, hand-made practice is a threat to the natural environment is offensive to me, our nation, our ancestors and the land itself,” she said.
Daniels’ younger sister harvested sweet grass, as their grandmother had taught them. (Submitted by Melissa Daniels)
Daniels also does not accept Canada’s statement of regret to Park. She wants an apology and recognition of her right to harvest, which she says she will continue to do.
“If Parks Canada really wanted, you know, to reconcile or regret how they approached this problem, which they now say only after I brought a bunch of people, they would contact me, which they are not,” Daniels said.
Gauthier also wrote that Parks Canada will contact the Wood Buffalo Cooperative Steering Committee, which includes 11 indigenous governments, to “start a dialogue” and “explore this issue.”
Daniels is skeptical of the process, saying her previous work with park committees has left her “disappointed”.
“I am very much in favor of a peaceful solution, but I will not allow them to destroy my rights and the relationship I maintain.”
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