1. Northern Ontario Consultation
In May of 2009 the Advocacy Director facilitated a discussion among consultant and non-consultant archaeologists working primarily in northwestern Ontario, based in Ontario or Manitoba, during the Canadian Archaeological Association meetings in Thunder Bay, and followed that up with phone conversations. Additionally, OAS Board Member Ryan Primrose worked with other northern consultants to facilitate a review of both the 2006 and 2009 drafts, and participated in the phone consultation the APA facilitated for northern members, and generated reports of those consultations.
2. Advisory Committee
We established an advisory committee of OAS members to provide opinion on issues related to the S&G and commercial practice, solicit and compile feedback from other members, advise the OAS Board on topics and issues to focus efforts on, and attend or support the APA-sponsored regional consultation sessions. Non-Board members of this committee included Holly Martelle (Timmins Martelle Heritage Consultants), Paul Racher (Archaeological Research Associates), Andrew Murray (AM Archaeological Associates), David Robertson (Archaeological Services Inc.), and Hugh Daechsel (Golder Associates).
3. Participation in the APA-organised Regional Consultation Sessions
As per the Ministry of Culture’s encouragement to do so, the OAS attempted to co-ordinate efforts and partner with the APA on consulting the community. These efforts met with some success in that the APA agreed to open up their regional consultation sessions to OAS members.
4. Facilitating First Nations Input on the Technical Bulletin and S&G
OAS President Jean-Luc Pilon met with OAS First Nation member the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn (specifically Ron Bernard) to discuss the S&G and specifically the Technical Bulletin on engagement, and the fact that the OAS was asked to facilitate consultation and feedback on the draft documents. The Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn, as an OAS member, were encouraged to undertake the task of facilitating that consultation with First Nation communities. This process began in September. A final report of those efforts can be found elsewhere in this issue of Arch Notes.
5. OAS Conference Forum
We organised a forum at the OAS annual conference this past October to look at the broader issue of future directions for archaeological practice post-implementation of the S&G. This included a panel of speakers who represented differing perspectives on where we need to go from this point onward (Dean Jacobs, Hugh Daechsel, Scarlett Janusas, Peter Timmins, Neil Downs). The focus of the discussion was less on the content of the S&G, and more on how they would be operationalised, interpreted, and negotiated as practice moved forward, and more specifically, on how practices would change, and how the relationship between differing archaeological interests in the archaeological community (commercial, research, avocational) could work together in the future, and with the Province, First Nations and the public.
| INTRODUCTION | OAS CONSULTATION EFFORTS | OVERVIEW OF FEEDBACK |
| KEY MESSAGES | THEMES |