Nishimura, Taylor2024-03-162024-03-162024https://hdl.handle.net/1828/16129Following the near-extinction of the species from the region in the late 19th century, the Pablo-Allard buffalo herd was purchased by the Canadian government and transported to Banff National Park between 1907 and 1912. More than a century later, Parks Canada implemented the ‘Plains Bison Reintroduction Project’ in 2017 to reintroduce a breeding population of the animal to Banff National Park. This research takes a mixed-methods approach to create a historiographic analysis of buffalo conservation and settler colonial dispossession in Banff. Combining archival research with qualitative news and policy analysis, this research situates the Reintroduction Project within the interrelationship of conservationism and colonial dispossession. The emphasis Parks Canada and the news media place on the Reintroduction Project as an act of reconciliation reflects a broader commitment to reconciliatory politics that reaffirms systems of dispossession. While the media emphasizes the cultural and spiritual significance of the buffalo to Indigenous nations, the political and economic relationship between the herd and Indigenous nations is constrained by parks administration and the herds' territorial containment. However, at the same time, returning the buffalo to Banff reflects Indigenous resurgence through the renewal of a land-based network of relationships centering on the buffalo.enbuffaloPlains BisonBanffreconciliationNational ParksPoster