Archaeological Resource Management in Western Canada
The development and practice of archaeological resource management (a.r.m.)
in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba is analyzed from a policy science
perspective. The impact of Euro-Canadian settlement on the region's Indian
peoples and on the archaeological evidence of their tenure is documented.
A.r.m.'s rise as a public policy field is charted and comparisons are drawn
with the concurrent development of culture resource management in the United
States. Provincial policies and the bureaucracies established to administer
them are contrasted. Problems in regulatory activity, inventory development
and site conservation are then explored. Nine target groups with stakes in
regional archaeology are discussed insofar as they affect and are affected
by resource management issues. Included are environmental regulatory agencies,
developers, consultants, academics, museum curators, avocationalists, professional
associations, Indians and the public. Societal decision-making processes such
as environmental assessment, public forums, and policy analytic techniques,
especially benefit-cost analysis, are examined. It is argued that increased
participatory effort in these processes is required if a.r.m. is to become
more effective. Such involvement in public policy-making may revivify archaeology,
which exhibits uncertainty about its practice and future. Renewal seems feasible
given several "megatrends" appearing as post-industrialism and postmodernism
supersede the normative values of modern, industrial society. Congruent with
these trends is an emerging recognition of archaeology's ideological role
and its potential to construct a more self-reflective past conducive to achieving
greater social equity.