A 2024 report investigates the Dene people’s forced removal from their ancestral territory during the creation of Wood Buffalo Provincial Park despite the fact that Dene people had the right to live in those lands based on Treaty No. 8. The article highlights how the “park became an instrument of colonial power in Denesuline homelands after 1922 and Indigenous peoples were expelled from the park in the name of conservation and tourism.” This represents Unit 3’s theme of Indigenous people’s exclusion from the parks.   https://www.nnsl.com/news/history-of-canadas-largest-national-park-reveals-exclusion-of-first-nations-people-and-injustice-7325376  

A 2024 CBC article reports how wetlands in Ottawa’s Goulbourn Township that were labelled “provincially significant” were removed from the protected areas by the City of Ottawa. Canada’s housing crisis and the government’s response to increase supply, significantly in popular suburbs, explains the builder’s interest and future constructions despite scientific review confirming wetlands’ ecological value. As a first-time home buyer myself who really hopes for more affordable prices, the question that is raised is whether these wetlands are the only potential area for construction. Did the authorities consult conservation experts before making this decision, or were the key players solely…

The article “‘No way, not possible’: California has a plan for new water rules. Will it save salmon from extinction?” clearly connects with the core debates discussed in Unit 3 because it illustrates the enduring tension between conservation ideas focused on immediate human needs (utilitarianism) and those emphasizing the intrinsic value of ecosystems (preservationism). Specifically, the California government’s proposed “Healthy Rivers and Landscapes” plan tries to achieve a balance by promising improved conditions for salmon—through habitat restoration and regulated water flows—while simultaneously securing enough water for millions of people, farms, and hydropower production. From my perspective, this aligns directly with…

Nature Canada, “Reaction: Canada Signs Two New Agreements to Support Provinces and Indigenous Leadership in Conservation,” March 13, 2025, https://naturecanada.ca/news/statements/reaction-canada-signs-two-new-agreements-to-support-provinces-and-indigenous-leadership-in-conservation/?utm. This article connects closely to Unit 3’s themes of conservation and the parks movement by showing a shift toward biodiversity protection and climate adaptation through significant federal and provincial funding. The focus on Indigenous leadership and new protected areas like the Seal River Watershed directly addressing the historical exclusion of Indigenous peoples from parks, as brought up by Binnema and Niemi. These agreements confront traditional ideas of ‘uninhabited wilderness’ and support Cronon’s view of wilderness as a cultural construct. By…

Conservation #2 I found it astonishing to listen to Jack Little describe the desire by “lumber lords” for conservation of forests in the 1880s in Canada and the United States. Here we sit five years after the BC government’s Strategic Review Panel on Old Growth Forests released its report A New Future for Old Forests, still waiting, watching, and wondering how and when the remaining in-tact old forests of BC will be protected from destruction. Little tells how those in the industry nearly 150 years ago saw the evidence of a non-sustainable industry then. Sure, things have changed, but old…