Members of Red Rock Indian Band and their supporters brought all traffic to a halt between eastern and western Canada at the Nipigon Bridge for an hour on Monday morning.

The shut-down came after pre-contact human remains were found at a nearby park construction site. Demonstrators from across the Robinson-Superior Treaty area called on Parks Canada to cease construction and acknowledge what the First Nation says are systemic mistakes that caused this to happen. 

In May, four unique sets of human remains were overturned in development of Parks Canada’s $37-million Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area visitor’s centre in Nipigon, 100 kilometres east of Thunder Bay. 

Carbon dating ordered by Red Rock Chief Allen Odawa Jr. showed the person with the most complete remains died between 1404 and 1456. Evidence suggests that at least one of those four was deliberately buried there.

Odawa alleged Parks Canada failed to follow its own protocols by not having an archaeologist on site, adding that both the federal and provincial governments were hindering what has become a “morbid scavenger hunt” of a search.

“They dropped the ball on this. We’re letting everyone know why, and we’re not going to stand for it,” Odawa said, as traffic swelled in all directions around the Nipigon Bridge, the choke point for all traffic on the Trans-Canada highway.

“There was no one there to enforce their protocols.”

According to Red Rock Indian Band, over 150 loads of earth were moved from the site, in what it calls repeated indignities to its ancestors.

In a press release, the First Nation’s leadership alleges, “There was significant reason to believe that this area was historically noteworthy and could likely have held archaeological artefacts or remains. RRIB understands that despite this, Parks Canada did not have an archeologist on site during the excavation and did not follow the steps outlined in its own document, Unearthing the Law.”

‘This is bullshit, let’s go’

Negotiations between Canada and Red Rock for the Visitor’s Centre development began over two decades ago. The band had hoped to own the facility and Parks Canada would rent it. Canada wasn’t receptive to that arrangement and Red Rock broke contact in 2015.

A decade later, the First Nation’s leadership walked out of the ground-breaking ceremony on May 3, after Canada didn’t acknowledge the traditional stewards of the land as they celebrated their intention to construct a building that would house the history of this land. 

After not even hearing even a basic land acknowledgement, Odawa got angry and left. “I said, ‘this is bullshit, let’s go.’”

Dirt excavation began that week and locals responded to advertisements offering free soil loads. A Red Rock member ended up discovering a bone, which was later revealed to belong to an animal. Members of the First Nation showed up on site to shut it down. Work stopped for over a week. 

They negotiated to have Parks Canada hire an on-site environmental monitor from the First Nation. She started three days before May 21, the day contractors discovered human remains.

Red Rock Indian Band councillors and employees spent that day chasing down dump trucks that were leaving the site. 

Odawa said after Parks Canada found a bottle dated 1850 on the first day, after the animal bone which ought to have been classified as an archaeological discovery because it was over 75 years old, Parks Canada ought to have had an archaeologist on scene.

Red Rock’s problem then became that soil dug up on federal land becomes provincial when it’s moved off the site. The red tape prolonged the process of sifting soil, which is still underway, five months to-the-day later. 

A media statement Parks Canada issued after the demonstration says it’s assessing alternate locations in Nipigon for the future site of the Administration and Visitor Centre. 

It claims to have “diligently followed all protocols,” and “has built a collaborative and respectful relationship with the Red Rock Indian Band” and taken the First Nation’s lead throughout. That included conducting archaeological assessments on more than 80 test pits.

“Upon uncovering evidence of ancestral remains, Parks Canada halted construction and has worked with Red Rock Indian Band, local authorities, and terrestrial archeology professionals to ensure proper and respectful steps were followed.”

While the Parks Canada statement doesn’t claim an archaeologist was on site, it does claim staff was present with, “relevant experience was on-site throughout the removal of vegetation to monitor for any archeological concerns.”

Odawa accused Parks Canada of being misleading. “Not only misleading but also grossly misrepresenting the facts. The narrative from Parks Canada being pushed is far from the truth and does a disservice to our organization and our values. We demand accountability from those responsible for spreading misinformation.”

‘If you find skeletal material, you have to stop work like, right now’

Decorated archaeologist Allyne Gliddon conducted research at the site in 1982, which was then known as “Red Rock House.” She was a part of a team that unearthed what remained of the Hudson Bay post, which had been destroyed in a fire. She said Parks Canada would have known which staff were needed on site, and at what stage they needed to involve nearby First Nations. 

For excavation to continue after finding human remains would be a serious problem, and would result in permanent losses of historical value.

“If you find skeletal material, you have to stop work like, right now. Call the cops. Get the coroner to see if someone got murdered last week or this is something of an age,” Gliddon said.

“The sites around here, these are paleo-sites. We’re talking about 9,000 years. You think about two miles of glacial ice melting, just roaring down this river. And 9,000 years ago, people were here. So it’s not just the 1400s that people are talking about. The context has been destroyed. What you find in the ground tells the story. When the site’s destroyed, the story’s destroyed,” she said.

For Red Rock member Kimberly Kennedy, Monday’s demonstration was about more than just raising awareness to a situation she said never should have happened. She was concerned about how the federal government will communicate with her community going forward, and under what values.

“The most important aspect of Indigenous culture, our history, is held mostly in oral tradition and we’re continually disregarded for our lack of evidence when we’re fairly trying to seek accountability, fair justice, and acknowledgement of our rights,” she said.

“The disruption of these bones not only disrupts our cultural preservation but also serves as another act to damage our ongoing persistent ability to preserve our culture.”

Jon Thompson is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter based in Thunder Bay. Contact him with tips and story ideas at editor@ricochet.media.