| dc.description.abstract | The last decade has seen an introduction of Aboriginal values into Ontario’s
forest management planning. Ontario forest management regulations and forest
management research, however, are lacking spatial definitions of Aboriginal values and
directions about how they should be protected. The protection designation that does
occur in forest management is a mixture of local initiatives and guidelines for cultural
heritage sites. The objectives of the thesis are fourfold: (1) to obtain views from
Aboriginal people in northern Ontario about important aspects in defining and protecting
Aboriginal values in forest management, and specifically, to obtain views on how
individual Aboriginal values such as trapping, a trapper’s cabin, a burial site, and a
spiritual site should be defined and protected; (2) to obtain views from Aboriginal
people in northern Ontario on the use of different mapping media and Virtual Reality
GIS in particular in representing and discussing Aboriginal values; (3) to review and
analyze pertinent forest management planning regulations in Ontario for their treatment
and impact on Aboriginal values; and (4) to make recommendations to improve the
process of Aboriginal values identification and protection in forest management
planning in Ontario.
To achieve the thesis objectives, Aboriginal people from six Aboriginal communities in
northern Ontario were interviewed and Ontario forest management regulations and
policies examined. The chosen research method for the thesis is qualitative, with focus
groups and individual interviews as research instruments and subsequent grouping of
data into themes and categories as the method of qualitative analysis. Research results
show that (1) Aboriginal people take an encompassing and holistic view when
discussing Aboriginal values, including concerns about cumulative impacts from natural
resource developments, social and cultural ramifications, wildlife resources, and broad
landscape protection of potential burial sites; (2) individual Aboriginal values are
sometimes spatially defined as more than the physical objects that represent them; (3)
Aboriginal values are in effect expressions of Aboriginal land use and might be more
appropriately mapped by using methods already existing in Traditional Land Use and
Occupancy Studies; (4) typical forestry maps can be seen as confusing by Aboriginal
people, and Virtual Reality GIS media can be an effective alternative to traditional
mapping media in discussing Aboriginal values; and (5) within the paradigm of
ecosystem forest management, there is a need for the presence of definitions, protection
provisions and management objectives for Aboriginal values in Ontario’s forest
management regulations. | |
