Finding Suckerville: Relocating Dene Sųłiné Sites in a Landscape of Erasure

Summary

This is a poster submission presented at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In 2022, Cold Lake First Nations (CLFN) initiated a project to relocate historic sites within the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range (CLAWR) around Primrose Lake, Alberta/Saskatchewan, Canada, an area of great cultural significance to the community and hub within their traditional homelands. The 1952 creation of the military weapons range resulted in the removal of hundreds of Indigenous people (Dene Sųłiné, Cree, and Métis) and some Euro-Canadian trappers from this region. In 2001, after decades of no land access, CLFN negotiated an agreement that provided restricted access to the CLAWR for the Nation. Today, no archaeological information has been recorded for the lake, and few members are left with firsthand knowledge about life in and around “Suckerville.” Led by CLFN, this poster presents preliminary results that combine community knowledge with archaeological/remote sensing survey data to demonstrate the significance of both their occupation of Primrose Lake and their removal.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023   •
• 2023 SHA Poster Submissions

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow