FIRST NATIONS SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The communities and individuals who responded to the Task Force survey offered a number of recommendations in the completed questionnaires or in their written comments. The following is a summary of these recommendations regarding consulting archaeology and the First Nations in Ontario:

  • That the Ministry of Culture meet the Crown’s “duty to consult” by undertaking direct and meaningful consultation with the First Nations communities in Ontario regarding the revision of the Draft S&G and Draft Technical Bulletin to accommodate the needs and concerns for archaeology that these communities have and, by extension, the manner of their participation in the conduct of consulting archaeology in the province;

  • That the Ministry of Culture provide the First Nations communities the opportunity to hold province-wide discussions on both the Draft S&G and Draft Technical Bulletin, in order to inform the Ministry of First Nations perspectives on these two documents and to assist in the eventual development of Terms of Reference that may be adopted and incorporated into the future Technical Bulletin;

  • That the Ministry of Culture provide funding to reimburse the individual First Nations communities the costs resulting from consultation with consultant archaeologists as outlined in the Draft Technical Bulletin;

  • That the Ministry of Culture promote and support, through funding and technical assistance, the development in First Nations communities of the capacity required for the sustained management of the archaeological resources within their territories. Capacity building should also be accompanied by a concerted effort on the part of the Ministry to assist the development in the communities of archaeological artifact repositories that meet the standards for approval by the Ministry;

  • That the “guidelines” recommended in the Draft S&G for engaging First Nations communities be converted into “standards”, so as to ensure the meaningful consultation of these communities at all stages of archaeological projects: i.e. background preparation and fieldwork.

BACKGROUNDACTIVITIESSUMMARY
RESULTSF.N.RECOMMENDATIONSTASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS