Nipissing First Nation Anishinaabekwe archaeologist wins Governor General Innovation Award
Trigger warning: readers may be triggered by the subject matter of Indian Residential Schools. To access a 24-hour National Crisis Line, call: 1-866-925-4419. Community Assistance Program (CAP) can be accessed for citizens of the Anishinabek Nation: 1-800-663-1142.
By Kelly Anne Smith
NIPISSING FIRST NATION— Nipissing First Nation Anishinaabekwe archaeologist Sarah Hazell is focused on building capacity among First Nations.
As a research archaeologist, Sarah Hazell, has been active in the Canadian Archaeological Association Working Group on Unmarked Graves (CAAWGUG) since 2022. Hazell and her colleagues received the Governor General’s Innovation Award on May 14.
“The working group was looking for someone to help them develop training regarding the search for missing children and so that’s how I became part of the working group,” says Hazell.
She was hired as the project manager by Western University to play a key role in the creation of the working group’s information resources and was responsible for developing the companion video series.
Before working for the CAAWGUG, Sarah developed and implemented training in Northern Ontario for the Ontario Archaeological Society (OAS), a volunteer-based charitable organization.
“We trained over 150 people in the last several years to become Indigenous Archaeological Monitors (IAM). With that first grant, from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF), we trained over 100 people from 20 different First Nations between 2019 and 2021. And every year, we’ve offered it since then. I adapted it to an Indigenous audience to be culturally-sensitive and respectful.”
Hazell says recently, archaeological consulting companies are trying to use more ethical practices by hiring IAM’s.
“We train the monitors in foundational archaeological practices so that they’ll be able to identify bones and ancestors’ belongings. We’ve been so marginalized from stewarding our own heritage, I think it’s really important to use language that is empowering for us. I prefer to use ancestors’ belongings when describing what some archaeologists would call artifacts. This kind of training hasn’t been offered in the north before, which makes it an especially significant opportunity for First Nations,” Hazell says. “My research partner, Dr. Alicia Hawkins of the University of Toronto, Mississauga, was the president of the OAS when we started to brainstorm about how to bring this type of training north. We were concerned about potential barriers community members would face if they wanted to engage in our training. We identified that being paid was instrumental and that it had to take place locally. So, the first year, we trained participants in their home communities of Sagamok Anishnawbek, Mississauga #8 First Nation, and for First Nations on Manitoulin Island, at the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation. Then, the pandemic happened and we took a one-year hiatus to develop training that would be offered online because Indigenous communities are especially at risk concerning health issues like COVID-19.”
Since then, Sarah and volunteers from the OAS have continued to offer annual training in a hybrid format.
“This summer, it’s going to be done hybrid from my nation in Garden Village. I’ll be in Nipissing and people will be able to Zoom in with us. It’s to train them to be able to engage with the archaeology when it happens in the north. The importance is that we want people up here that are on-site and monitoring the activities of the CRM archaeologists (Cultural Resource Management or professional archaeologists paid by developers).”
Like the OAS, all the members of the CAAWGUG are volunteers, says Hazell.
“Our collective work is about trying to help communities in the search for their missing children in a non-invasive way. We don’t want to disturb the potential burials. So, using non-invasive techniques to help communities locate missing children is always best.”
Hazell, a PhD student at the University of Toronto, also teaches youth in the Nipissing First Nation Archaeological Summer School to be archaeological monitors. In her writing, Hazell speaks of being amazed at the enthusiasm that community members have for learning.
Hazell explains remote-sensing techniques are usually used by industry to locate underground infrastructure such as pipes.
“Most remote sensing industry specialists are trained to detect infrastructure like pipes, sewer systems, and underground wires. Typically, they have not been trained to locate unmarked graves. The signals that they are receiving from this type of remote sensing are very different because they involve man made materials like metal. Investigating unmarked graves using ground penetrating radar is distinct because really, you’re measuring the compactness of the soil and the moisture compared to the original host sediment. If you’ve excavated a grave, and then you put the material back in, it’s looser and it’s going to hold moisture more than the surrounding area, which is more compact. That’s basically what we’re working at. That is much different than identifying a pipe that is made of metal and is giving a different signal or reading. By doing significant archival work beforehand, you are trying to narrow down where the potential graves may be located. And that is where you will conduct a search using several remote sensing techniques.”
Furthermore, Sarah says, it’s really important to make sure you have ownership over the data that’s collected.
“And that it’s going to be returned to you. It’s really important for communities to recognize their data sovereignty and to make sure they have control over any data that is collected and that it is returned to them and protected.”
In terms of conducting a survey, Sarah says it’s fairly straightforward to collect remote sensing data.
“But it’s more difficult to interpret this information. It’s important to understand the landscape and any potential environmental factors that could affect interpretation like tree roots, nearby fences, and rocks/bedrock, among others.”
Hazell says it takes a lot of experience to interpret the data with confidence.
“This is exactly why we’ve developed these resources so that communities have this information when, for instance, they’re looking to outsource any kind of remote sensing work,” Hazell explains. “Resources we’ve developed address frequently asked questions and also more technical aspects so that communities have access to information about how to navigate this really traumatic and sensitive work that they’re doing. I think that community members have questions and our working group wants to help them to find answers. We really just want people to have the resources that can make this work manageable and that it’s done in a respectful way.”
Hazell and the CAAWGUG continue to source adequate funding for future training so they can deliver in-person opportunities to communities because the group is comprised of volunteers. Sarah Hazell has a message for the government.
“The search for missing children will likely take decades to resolve, not the short timelines that are currently indicated by the federal government in terms of their funding schedules. Some communities don’t have access to clean drinking water so they’re not really thinking about how to mount a search for their children when they don’t even have clean drinking water. They’re generally overburdened with requests.”
To read more on Sarah Hazell’s work visit the Canadian Archaeology Association.