Abstract

A new era of Indigenous-led collaborations signals a shift in approach by Parks Canada – in response to commitments to reconciliation – to the involvement of Indigenous peoples in the governance and management of national parks, national park reserves, and national marine conservation areas. However, co-management, the institutional arrangement on which these and other longstanding partnerships in parks contexts have been built, has a contested and uneven track record in meeting the needs, interests, and aspirations of Indigenous people. Using qualitative methods of governance analysis combined with interviews reflecting Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives, this thesis addresses the question: “what is the potential of co-management as a vehicle for reconciliation within national parks”? The thesis is comprised of two manuscripts. The first confronts a critical gap in empirical data about the content and context of formal national park co-management agreements through a scan of available agreements and the creation of a governance typology, as a basis for exploring strengths and weaknesses of agreement-making in serving reconciliation commitments. The second, through a community-partnered project with Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation, examines relationship-building processes in the context of Vuntut National Park, as an example of a mature claims-based northern national park co-management arrangement. Using the lens of ethical space, the research sheds light on enabling and constraining factors for relationship-building and offers insights into the principles and elements of an ethical space process for national park co-management arrangements supportive of Indigenous-state reconciliation. Overall, this thesis aims to contribute to understandings of the potential of co-management agreements to support reconciliation and renewed relationships in national parks.