Fort Edmonton Park looks for authenticity in telling Aboriginal story

The City of Edmonton has committed $20,000 to Confederacy of Treaty 6 for the continuation of research that could result in a more accurate story of the First Nations people being told at Fort Edmonton.

“It’s a positive step forward,” said Rob Houle, liaison to Grand Chief Craig Mackinaw. “It can probably lead to great programs, great educational tools for the visitors that attend the Fort.”

Houle says in the past there has been little dialogue between Fort Edmonton Management Company and First Nations.

“Fort Edmonton is all about historical accuracy and authenticity. If these aren’t stories that are told by (the Indigenous peoples) in a way that they believe is firstly accurate, correct, and tells the story they believe needs to be told, then it doesn’t accomplish the objects of the mission of the park,” said Doug Goss, chair of Fort Edmonton Management Company.

The money promised to Treaty 6 Confederacy by the city will be used to further research that stalled in the early 1990s, says Houle. A researcher will be hired to determine the location of the site, where neighbouring Chiefs travelled to sign the adhesion on Aug. 21, 1877. Indications are the adhesion site was either where the Alberta Legislature sits today or just west of that.

“This will provide a great piece of history for the city. We’ll be able to locate the actual site of the adhesion and then moving forward hopefully put in some kind of monument to recognize the momentous occasion,” Houle said. “Further discussions will have to take place with the province and the city … but first we have to find the spot.”

Mike Chow, director of Aboriginal and Multicultural Relations with the City of Edmonton, says the research is a “perfect opportunity where the Aboriginal relations area was building relationships with the confederacy and at the same time Fort Edmonton Park was pursuing a capital project …. to tell the local First Nations, Métis and Aboriginal communities story in regards to the Fort Edmonton time.”

He adds that the funding fits well considering Mayor Don Iveson has declared this as a Year of Reconciliation.

Goss says Fort Edmonton is in the “serious planning stages” of creating the Indigenous Peoples Experience.

“It will be a collaborative process, which between Fort Edmonton, the city and all of the Indigenous peoples including the Treaty 6 Nations, but also Metis, etc, … whereby we work with all of those stakeholders to build a narrative around our Indigenous peoples as told by our Indigenous peoples in a way that is factual, that is genuine, and brings honour to the history of our Indigenous people in our province and in our nation and within the context of Fort Edmonton Park,” he said.

The park is planning a $40 million to $50 million structure to tell the Indigenous story. Debate for capital funding is on the city’s agenda for this fall, says Chow.

“This is a defining project for not just for the park, but defining for the city that we build a process where there is true collaboration and input from the stakeholder groups which frankly hasn’t happened in a way like this before,” said Goss. “This could be a model for lots of other things we can do together. But if we can get this right there are lots of other things we can get right together.”

Houle says he is “really keen” on the possibility.