Lemyre, Laurie Camirand and Nicolas Houde: Locally Governed Nature Reserves as a Strategy for Revitalisation of Indigenous Political Cultures – the
Case of Masko Cimakanic Aski
Lětopis Abstract 2017 2: Lemyre, Laurie Camirand and Nicolas Houde: Locally Governed Nature Reserves as a Strategy for Revitalisation of
Indigenous Political Cultures – the Case of Masko Cimakanic Aski
Conservation parks and other protected areas have long been part of a colonial arsenal that have dispossessed Indigenous peoples of their lands and
imposed visions of natural resource management often incompatible with local cosmo-visions. This article proposes that protected areas can also, in a
reversal of perspective, be used as a tool for decolonization, to secure land in order to (1) protect the land from extractive industries and (2)
allow for a revitalization of traditional political cultures and resource management practices. Some Canadian First Nations are indeed attempting to
put into practice an Indigenous territoriality with the help of protected areas. There exists, therefore, a dialogue between an approach of radical
rejection of colonial structures, such as protected areas, and a pragmatic one mobilizing these tools of the colonial society to meet further goals,
such as redefining and revitalizing Indigenous political systems. This paper explores the case of the Wemotaci Iriniwok (Québec, Canada), for whom the
creation of a protected area allows for a refocusing of the connection to the land towards an endogenous value system, in order to stimulate political
innovation. Specifically, the Wemotaci Iriniwok capacity to experiment with political institutions through the management of a protected area is
examined.
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