Algonquin Provincial Park as Policed Space

Abstract

This paper explores the creation of Algonquin Park, and its social and economic exclusion of local people, including the people after which the park was named, in favour of industrial resource exploitation. The very foundation of the park in 1893 was a form of exclusion, though Aboriginal people were so socially marginalized that their existence was only subsequently recognized through the casting of their everyday behaviours as deviant. Non‐Aboriginal trappers were also confronted with the prohibition of their primary economic activity. Surveillance and law enforcement became important as hunting and simply entering the space without permission were criminalized. Official publications and brochures highlight the public and recreational aspects of the park, but industrial resource extraction, particularly clear cut logging by private lease‐holding companies, was deemed a legitimate activity. This reflects the related capitalist and colonial values of the provincial government and suggests that the creation of Algonquin Provincial Park was hegemonic and economic. The record of legislation, policy construction and enforcement in the park provide an excellent testimony of this reality.8