Working Paper 1999-27 for Internal Circulation Only

Examples from across Canada have shown that when the exploitation of lands and resources grow in profitability the cultural landscape of aboriginal communities stands at risk unless a process of exclusion or a means of adaptation can be established. As a means of adaptation, aboriginal communities are entering into co-operative management agreements with government and industry in an attempt to regain access and influence over the lands and resources that continue to sustain their culture, economies, and distinctive ways of life. These co-operative arrangements represent adaptive strategies employed by aboriginal communities to enact fundamental change in the institutions that most directly influence their access to traditionally used land and resources. The Whitefish Lake Co-operative Management Agreement, signed between the Whitefish Lake First Nation and the Alberta provincial government, is such an institution and serves as an ethnographic example throughout this paper.