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“Do these Deskmen think a Trapper with a Family Can Afford Beef?” Traplines, Métis Land-Use and Aboriginal Rights 1899-1980

5/10/2015

1 Comment

 
Recently I made a presentation at the Métis Economic Development Symposium in Fort McMurray on the history of Traplines in Northeastern Alberta.  This presentation is one attempt to grapple with a bigger question that I have been considering about the history of the region:  How has Northeastern Alberta been transformed from effectively being an Aboriginal space to a non-Aboriginal or Western geographical and cultural space from the time of the Treaty/Scrip commissions (1899) to the present?  As I argue in the presentation, modern state development and intervention - as expressed through Government policies to make the land "productive" - played a key role in the transformation of the region. For the Métis in particular, the domain in which the state has expropriated space and promoted commodity development has been trapline modernization. The response from the Métis has been an increasing awareness of and mobilization around Aboriginal rights. In future work I hope to explore additional examples of how the power of the state has been used to promote economic development based on resource extraction resulting in large-scale environmental change and the transformation of Northeastern Alberta from Aboriginal space into non-Aboriginal space.  For now I hope you enjoy the presentation and if you have any questions please feel free to send me a note.

Cheers, 
Peter
Audio File 
1 Comment
James Rosenau
11/26/2019 06:09:49 pm

That was great, lots of info I did not know. Id like to know how Aunt Katie Sanderson got her trapline moved from the James Powder 2317line? I see it was as you say a family line then they got moved close to the airport to her own line?
Im told James Powder line is one of the oldest lines?
Is there any proof that Rodger Powder had a license for 2317 after James Powder passed in 1987. I called wild life on that line and Buffalo housing , both said it was a missing file? Wild life went as far as to say, it reads waiting to vacate 2012? I know you know of Granny Powder and her oral history of 2317 line, that this area not just that line was ours, well the people of the forest, Lapoudres, blood. that's in the books.
I cant get back into time but what they did to us is shameful, you seen that, so many of us kids taken, My life was hell, Id like one day to tell the town of Mac what happened to me. 17 years locked away ,. I lived threw some terrible stuff because my town of Fort MacMurray witch I grew up knewing of and dreaming of such a great land of people turned out to be so bad. Im 52 now, I need to come home , I need to heal on my familys land, I need to walk where both my Grand parents walked and lived, I need the city of Mac to know what happened to me, Iam not the only kid this pain happened too, and its becauce of the mismanagement of the City Of Fort MacMurray!
Sorry I get upset that time cant be changed but maybe that city can help me heal. Did you know I found my birth mother by writing to fort MacMurray news paper and they printed my story and I found my mother Rita. I was in prison then, it was the worst of times for me but it got worse. Im happy to say I had a family on both sides of the boarder to help me break a cycle of trauma . Thanks for listening Peter,
Born Darin Powder, Lapoudre

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