Process is more important…

Process is more important than product, and we MUST get the process right before proceeding.

First Nations and Indigenous communities must be properly and thoroughly consulted before moving forward.

Unless there has been major consultative progress in the 30 (sic) days since this notice was posted, these proposed changes should NOT be implemented during the 2026 field season.

The point of doing archaeological work is to understand and discover the knowledge of those who were here before us. It is crucial that we learn from and consult with the knowledge keepers of those who were here before us, the First Nations and indigenous peoples, about the best way to discover this knowledge through archaeology.

To imagine that "trained" archaeologists (as defined by some Ministry standard) can outline our proper process is as ludicrous as, for example, asking experts on Saami culture to advise us on how to study and understand Anishinabek cultural evidence.

The idea behind this proposal, that there need to be standards that set out how limited assessments should be conducted within Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the archaeological assessment process, is good.
But arbitrarily setting these standards could make things worse than they already are.