Collaboration Continues: Revisiting Archaeology between CRM Archaeologists and First Nations Communities in the Pacific Northwest

Summary

First Nation’s heritage concerns are at the forefront of many large-scale and controversial development projects across the province of British Columbia. How developers and Cultural Resource Management (CRM) Archaeologists choose to address these concerns can significantly impact working and political relationships. CRM archaeologists are on the front lines balancing and navigating complex, and sensitive socio-political heritage issues. Our small CRM company, Kleanza Consulting Ltd. (Kleanza), has found success conducting collaborative research in this challenging environment. We have learned that in order to conduct meaningful work, archaeologists must be sensitive, adaptable, flexible, and above all must practice a community-based and community-driven approach. This method requires a large investment building relationships among competing CRM companies, academics, contractors, and clients. Researchers must be locally based to gain specialized community knowledge and understanding about how to work within complex, current and traditional socio-political frameworks. This presentation revisits and evaluates our company’s ability to work collaboratively with First Nation’s communities in a CRM context throughout the Pacific Northwest. We evaluate our progress based on a model developed in 2015 and provide specific project examples.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Collaborative and Community Archaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 13288