Description
The inscription of Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai’pi on the World Heritage List in 2019 was the culmination of a fifteen-year long nomination process. The nomination recognized the international significance of this Blackfoot cultural landscape, but the process also exposed tensions between local, global, and Indigenous values. Consultation with Blackfoot and local settler communities during the National Historic Site of Canada commemoration that preceded the World Heritage site nomination indicated broad support for inscription of Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai’pi. However, engagement with local settler communities during the World Heritage site nomination process led to multiple iterations of the submission, as the nomination team attempted to balance the original Blackfoot vision of a cultural landscape that extended beyond Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai’pi against local community concerns with the nominated property boundaries and buffer zone. Integrating recent settler history within the...