- Rebecca Dunham, IACH, Parks Canada Agency
- Keith Mercer, Nova Scotia Mainland Field Unit, Parks Canada
Parks Canada and the Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn Negotiation Office (KMKNO) work collaboratively to co-manage, protect, and respect Mi'kmaq cultural heritage at Kejimkujik National Historic Site/National Park and Kejimkujik Seaside Adjunct National Park in the Mi’kmaw district of Kespukwitk (Southwest Nova Scotia).
Kejimkujik and the broader cultural landscape have profound ecological and cultural significance to the Mi’kmaq. For thousands of years, these lands and waters have been, and continue to be, the homeland of the Mi’kmaw and archaeological resources found throughout the region bear evidence of Mi’kmaq heritage.
The development of a collaborative archaeology technical team at Kejimkujik has transformed archaeological practices at the park and has been recognized by both Parks Canada and KMKNO as an effective co-management process. Following a two-eyed seeing (Etuaptmumk) approach, where both Western and Indigenous ways of knowing are woven together, we strive to better appreciate the interrelatedness between cultural resources and environment, the oneness of the relationship between an artifact and where it lay, and the deep-rooted connection between past and present.
This session will offer a variety of perspectives on collaborative archaeology at Kejimkujik from the Mi’kmaq community, Parks Canada management, academic research, and archaeological consulting.