Alberta Fact Check: Alberta independence could save national parks
It would be tragic to see these parks changed or even dissolved, but according to the federal agency managing them, “nothing can be immune from review.”
A move could be afoot to change the status of national parks within Canada and possibly even dissolve them in an ideological “land back” initiative intended to hand the parks to Indigenous bands. While this may sound like hyperbole, it’s based on reports and memos from within Parks Canada itself.
Blacklocks Reporter released notes from within Parks Canada that call the creation of national parks harmful and that they were a colonial injustice. Regarding the creation of Banff National Park, a report says, “These laws, practices and policies caused historic and ongoing harm for Indigenous communities. They eroded Indigenous systems.”
It goes further in stating “Parks Canada now acknowledges this harmful historical legacy and its impact on Indigenous language, culture, laws and governance systems.”
While it’s tempting to dismiss the statements as typical self-abasement from woke bureaucrats, the language of further reports indicates a plan to change the designation of parks themselves. The National Historic Sites and Monuments Board, which is a Parks Canada agency, wrote in a 2019 report, Careful Review Of Existing Designations, “Nothing can be immune from review,” and “Every designation can be re-evaluated.”
In British Columbia, access to some provincial parks is being limited based on race, and the government agencies promoting this contemporary public land access apartheid use the same language to justify it as was used in the Parks Canada reports.
Alberta is the home to Canada’s first national park and Canada’s largest national park as well as several others. The parks have made the province a popular destination for travellers from all parts of the world. It would be tragic to see these parks changed or even dissolved, but according to the federal agency managing them, “nothing can be immune from review.”
Ironically, the only way to protect such deeply established landmarks and hallmarks of Canadian history could be to pursue provincial independence. Federal bureaucrats can’t be reformed from within, and Canada’s courts haven’t been inclined to protect property from land title claims made by Indigenous activists, whether on private or public lands.
Alberta can’t save Canada, but it could save the national parks.
Cory Morgan
Cory Morgan is an Alberta-based columnist, political commentator, and longtime advocate for Western Canadian independence. He is the author of the recently updated book The Sovereigntist’s Handbook, a grassroots guide for independence supporters and political activists.
http://sovereigntistshandbook.com/
