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2.3 Identifying individual contacts within a communityOnce you have identified the communities most likely to have an interest in thearchaeological project, the next step is to initiate contact. One of the benefits of havinglong-term relationships with Aboriginal communities is that you will likely know peoplewith whom you can initiate the engagement. Some communities have designated personsto manage requests for consultation and engagement from government and proponents.Some communities also have a designated person responsible for issues regarding landsand resources within the community. The community representative may be an electedmember of the band council, a paid staff member who may or may not have expertise inarchaeology, a member of a traditional society, an Aboriginal scholar, or an elder withknowledge of the customs and history of their people. If no designated representativeexists, it can be helpful to ask the advice of your colleagues, your professionalassociations, your client, or the administrative office of the Aboriginal community inidentifying an appropriate contact within the community.After initial contact, the community will determine how best to engage with you. They willbase this decision, in part, on the information you provide about the archaeologicalprocess in general and your specific archaeological project in particular. A community maywish to involve more than one person in the engagement. You and that group will discusshow best to work together and then incorporate the arrangement into the engagementprocesses for the archaeological project.Draft Engaging Aboriginal Communities in Archaeology | 7
3 How to Proceed with Engagement3.1 PreparationA key part of preparation should be to gather all available information about thearchaeological assessment or site. Bringing this valuable information to the Aboriginalcommunity at the outset of the engagement process is a starting point. The Aboriginalcommunity can then share its knowledge and make decisions about its interest and level ofinvolvement in the archaeological project.After identifying the Aboriginal communities most likely to be interested your project, youshould gather basic information about those communities, such as their culturalaffiliations and some sense of both their history and their current realities (e.g., languages,governance, socioeconomics, etc).The legacy of the historical relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoplesin Canada has had a significant effect upon Aboriginal communities. Understanding thiswill help you to listen to the communities you engage and understand their needs. Someconsultant archaeologists have extensive knowledge in this area. Others will develop adeeper understanding over time by working with Aboriginal communities. For consultantarchaeologists seeking to broaden their knowledge, a list of resources, a bibliography, anda glossary are found at the end of this bulletin.3.2 Initiating and sustaining engagementThe development of the engagement process should be collaborative. This will ensure thatthe Aboriginal community is interested in the archaeological project, comfortable with theprocess and able to participate. Rather than confronting the community with a rigid set ofrequirements based on an inflexible timetable, begin by clearly communicating the purposeof the engagement and asking for advice on how toproceed. Depending on the previous experience ofthe community, the initial engagement may includeproviding the following:an orientation to archaeology in the landdevelopment process, a description of your roleas an archaeologist in the project and anoverview of the typical archaeological stages in aproject;information about the planned archaeologicalproject, such as facts you have gathered thus far;and,Other effective practices include:Showing respect for traditional andseasonal events in the community.Discussing opportunities to involvelocal Aboriginal businesses andindividuals in the archaeologicalassessment (e.g., as field crewmembers or monitors).Asking the community if they haveidentified areas of cultural orspiritual significance within theirtraditional territory (for example,through a cultural heritage valuesmapping exercise) and if they wouldbe willing to share this informationif it is relevant to the project.Draft Engaging Aboriginal Communities in Archaeology | 8
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