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CBC
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- CBC
Ancient Saskatchewan archaeological site falls victim to illegal scavenging
Social Sharing A crucial archaeological site in Saskatchewan has become a target for illegal scavenging. sowanânihk, which means "a place to cross" in Cree, is located near Prince Albert and is estimated to be around 11,000 years old. It holds a wealth of evidence of Indigenous settlements that likely existed there. A local ambassador for the site says national news coverage and general popularity has led to an increase in damage from human interference to the site, including the illegal practice of pot hunting. "There's been potters, or people actually digging into the site unauthorized," said Dave Rondeau, local historian and the Crutwell consultation co-ordinator for Métis Local 66. "Without any respect for what this site is in and of itself." The importance of the site The sowanânihk site was likely used as a long-term settlement by Indigenous people, according to archaeologists. "You know, this is a window for us, an opportunity and a window for us to peer back thousands of years and write the story right from the onset of habitation for our territory," Rondeau said. Glenn Stewart, an associate professor in the department of anthropology at the University of Saskatchewan, describes the site as "one of the oldest in Saskatchewan, especially further north." "Preserving it for future generations is not only something we want to do as archaeologists, but it's also a fundamental importance to Sturgeon Lake First Nation and other Indigenous groups in the area," Stewart said. As the site gets more attention, Rondeau said people should be helping to preserve it, not damaging it in search of relics. "As it becomes better known, there is always the risk that you might have more unscrupulous individuals going out and pot hunting." Pot hunting involves illegally digging up artifacts to keep or sell, often without any understanding of the archaeological value they hold. Rondeau said he's seen evidence of it at the site — shovel markings and damage along the riverbank. "You can corrupt the study," Rondeau said. "What good is removing these, you know, lithic material or points or rock or bones if it's just going to go into a box underneath your bed?" Archaeologists like Stewart are trained to carefully excavate and record findings so that the relationship between the artifacts can be understood in the larger context of the site. "Archaeology in itself is a destructive process," Stewart said. "We spend a lot of time training our students on how to properly excavate a site so that all of that information remains intact." A plan for preservation A University of Saskatchewan team is working on a preservation plan for the site. Using small cores extracted from the area, the team will try to get a definitive answer on how far the site extends. "We want to be able to bring in youth, especially Indigenous youth, so they can learn about their own history," Stewart said. "The Canadian government has done a very good job of erasing that history, so we want to give back now." These tests will also help determine how to preserve the site for future generations. Rondeau said that while archaeological research is essential, it is just as important that the local communities, especially Indigenous people, are involved in the conversation. "Whatever we do in terms of research will be governed by what Sturgeon Lake and other Indigenous groups want to see happen at the site," Stewart said. By working together, archaeologists and Indigenous communities hope to preserve a connection with the ancestors and the ancient history of the land. "Everybody owns this site. We are all treaty people, but we need some level of, for lack of a better term, stewardship or the ability to enforce, to stop the contamination of and the destruction of this site," Rondeau said.
CTV News
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- CTV News
Morning Update: Father drowns, child rescued from water
Ottawa Watch CTV Morning Live Hosts Rosey Edeh & Will Aiello have your Thursday morning headlines.
CTV News
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Fire again threatens Lytton, B.C., one of hundreds of blazes across Canada
This week marks the fourth anniversary of a deadly wildfire that destroyed the British Columbia village of Lytton, and the community is again under threat, with a nearby out-of-control wildfire setting off evacuation orders and alerts. The Izman Creek fire burning north of Lytton prompted the Thompson-Nicola Regional District to issue an evacuation order for three properties and an evacuation alert for nine addresses along Highway 12 on Tuesday. The Lytton First Nation also issued an evacuation alert for a large area encompassing several of its reserves on the east side of the Fraser River. Village Mayor Denise O'Connor said the timing of the latest wildfire has made it that much more impactful for community members. 'People just couldn't believe that a fire would start on the anniversary,' O'Connor, who became mayor of Lytton a year after the deadly 2021 wildfire, said in an interview Wednesday. 'And there are still many, many people, not just in the village but around the area here, that are still struggling with PTSD from four years ago. 'It's just such a trigger for them ... It's still so real for people here.' The BC Wildfire Service website showed the fire that was discovered Tuesday had grown to 130 hectares by Wednesday afternoon, forcing the closure of the highway for about 60 kilometres as firefighting crews responded by air and on the ground. There are three helicopters assigned to the blaze, which is suspected to have been caused by human activity. The blaze was among more than 480 wildfires burning across Canada on Wednesday, including about 80 active fires in British Columbia. Alexandria Jones with the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre said Canada had been at national preparedness level five, the highest level, since May 29. The designation means wildland fire activity is significant across multiple jurisdictions and all Canadian firefighting resources are engaged in battling the blazes, while international partners are also being called on for help, she said. Jones said the situation across the country is 'severe' and there are still three months ahead in this fire season. 'What is really critical is the area that's burned, how quickly these fires are spreading. And so this year we're already at four million hectares.' While that is about half of the figure for this time in 2023 -- Canada's worst fire season on record -- this year's number is much higher than early July in 2024, 2022, 2021 and 2020. Just over one million hectares had burned at this time last year, Jones said, while just under 190,000 hectares had burned by early July 2022. At this point in 2021, 493,000 hectares had burned. Jones said Canada has received assistance so far from firefighters from the United States, Australia, Mexico and Costa Rica. In B.C., the Thompson-Nicola Regional District had earlier issued a local state of emergency for the Blue Sky Country region due to another nearby wildfire, which was burning out of control before being classified as 'being held' as of Wednesday. About 80 fires are burning in Yukon. The territorial government issued a statement on Wednesday saying crews had made progress containing 'priority fires,' aided by cooler and wetter conditions. The bulletin said the territory was lifting the level two fire restriction that had been issued on June 27 for the Southern Lakes, Tatchun, Northern Tutchone, Klondike and Kluane regions. Normal fire-season burning rules remain in effect. The territory had earlier lifted an evacuation alert for the area surrounding Ethel Lake, a four-hour drive north of Whitehorse. In Saskatchewan, the number of active wildfires has more than tripled in the last week. The province was reporting 64 active fires on Wednesday, with 20 uncontained. There were 20 active fires last week. Marlo Pritchard with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency told reporters at a virtual news conference that residents of Bear Creek and La Plonge in the province's northwest have been put under evacuation order. He said the agency is supporting more than 200 people who have fled their homes. At the peak of wildfire activity last month, wildfires had forced more than 10,000 Saskatchewan residents out of their homes. In Denare Beach, 650 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon, 218 homes burned down, more than half of the community. The province has said it provided one-time, $500 cheques to evacuees 18 and older at a cost of $5.1 million. In Alberta, firefighting crews were battling more than 70 wildfires, with about 30 per cent of those blazes designated as out of control. Statistics from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre show that about 180 of the fires active across the country on Wednesday were burning out of control. Lytton, about 250 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, is still in the process of rebuilding from a devastating 2021 fire that tore through the community four years ago on Monday, killing two people and wiping out much of the village and part of the Lytton First Nation. It was sparked on June 30, 2021, a day after Lytton set a Canadian temperature record of 49.6 C. O'Connor, the mayor, said there were 210 residents in the village before that fire. 'We have about 100 now in the village, more to come,' she said Wednesday. 'But we're a service centre for 2,500 people around the area that all want the town back and they want the grocery store and they want our medical centre back in the village. 'And we look forward to that day when that's going to happen because the people here are not going anywhere. We're here to stay.' By Brenna Owen With files from Brieanna Charlebois in Vancouver, Curtis Ng in Edmonton and Jeremy Simes in Regina This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 2, 2025.
