New Brunswick chiefs waiting for new premier to fulfil promises
By John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Daily Gleaner
A prominent First Nations chief in New Brunswick says she’s “on Cloud 9” over the Liberal win in the provincial election, eager to work out solutions with the new government over costly title claims and tax-sharing deals.
Patricia Bernard of Madawaska First Nation, in Edmundston, says Indigenous leaders were waiting for Premier-elect Susan Holt to appoint a new cabinet before deciding on the next steps.
Holt got a big majority, dethroning the two-term Tory government.
“I’ve been pretty much on Cloud 9 since election day,” Bernard told Brunswick News a couple of days after the Oct. 21 vote. “Mainly because of the willingness of the Liberal Party in their platform to negotiate. Hopefully, they put some actions to the words they put on paper.”
She had butted heads with the former Progressive Conservative government, especially Premier Blaine Higgs and Attorney General Ted Flemming, both of whom lost their seats in the election.
Bernard was upset over their decision to fight the Wolastoqey Nation’s Aboriginal title claim in court rather than negotiate and unilaterally tear up tax-sharing agreements, a loss of about $30 million to the small First Nation in northwestern New Brunswick over the last couple of years.
The chief said as plaintiffs, Indigenous leaders are willing to put the court case on hold and will show patience on that front. Justice Kathryn Gregory of the Court of King’s Bench is expected to rule by the end of December on a slew of preliminary motions in the case filed by the province and timber companies in their defence.
More pressing, Bernard said, was to get the tax-sharing deals back in place. The old agreements, the first of which were initiated 30 years ago, allowed First Nations to keep most of the money from sales tax generated at businesses on their reserves.
In the case of Madawaska, the expansion of a successful commercial development beside the Trans-Canada highway, which already includes the Grey Rock casino, stores, restaurants and gas bar, was largely scuttled when the Tory government scrapped the deals.
“We’re talking about jobs and economic development that’s been put on hold,” she said. “The revenue-sharing agreement can be put back in place immediately until something new is negotiated.”
Bernard was incensed that the Tory government had put on the provincial government website the rationale for its defence in the title claim, warning the public that the Wolastoqey action was unprecedented in Canada and would create uncertainty for private landowners in the claim area over rightful ownership. The claim covers roughly 60 per cent of the province’s territory on its western side in a case that the government had warned could take up to 20 years to resolve, costing tens of millions in legal fees.
The chief was particularly upset the Tory government underlined and put in bold only certain lines from the historic, 18th-century Peace and Friendship treaties that might lead one to believe the Indigenous people had ceded their lands to the British Crown.
“We were livid with the website that went up basically claiming that the Peace and Friendship treaties already ceded the land,” said Bernard, a lawyer. “Number one, the honour of the Crown is at stake, and two, they’re just legally wrong, and they know it. So how can you put something like that up on a government website?”
Key to the transition, the chief said, is who Holt appoints as justice minister and attorney general, natural resources minister, and Indigenous affairs minister.
Back in 2010, former Tory Premier David Alward appointed himself Aboriginal affairs minister, which many of the chiefs appreciated because it showed he had respect for them in what they consider nation-to-nation talks. But Bernard said it wasn’t necessary for Holt to do the same.
“She has a lot on her plate,” the chief said. “If she’s prepared to dedicate the time and effort, then, by all means, that’s the best thing for her to do. But she has a lot of promises she has to fulfill so will she have the time to put into working with First Nations? The key is going to be her commitment and if she doesn’t have the time, it’s probably best to appoint someone else.”
A Liberal spokesperson said meetings would be arranged soon between the new government and First Nations leaders.
“It’s crucial that we begin to rebuild the trust and respect needed to have proper working relationships with First Nations,” Katie Beers wrote in an email. “We look forward to sharing more soon.”
The Mi’gmaq chiefs in eastern New Brunswick, who lead nine of the 15 First Nations in the province, were scheduled to meet a few days after the election to discuss the new government.
Terry Richardson, chief of Pabineau First Nation, says they are waiting patiently for the new government to settle before pressing demands. His side is also willing to put its title claim in court for the other half of New Brunswick on ice (the two claims overlap somewhat).
In the heat of the campaign, the Progressive Conservative Party had warned voters that Holt’s promises to First Nations could cost the province hundreds of billions of dollars in losses, warning that the Wolastoqey lawsuit alone includes requests for damages and compensation dated back to 1759.
The chiefs describe it as fearmongering.
“At least now, we’ll sit at the table and negotiate,” Richardson told Brunswick News on Wednesday. “It doesn’t mean you’ll get everything you ask for, but at least you’re sitting and talking. There’s a willingness to move this forward and look at it from a different perspective than what they were looking at before.”
The chiefs liked former Aboriginal affairs ministers Jake Stewart and Arlene Dunn, but they believed Higgs didn’t give them enough independence and flexibility. Richardson said he never met the last minister in charge, Réjean Savoie, who was a caretaker and lost his seat Monday.
“We always say it takes 500 cups of tea to form a relationship,” said Richardson, whose Indigenous community is just south of Bathurst in northeastern New Brunswick. “So, let’s start having those cups over the next four years and see where it brings us.”
The chief said he had the utmost respect for some of the ministers who’d left the Higgs cabinet, arguing they were pushed out by a premier who’d had too firm a grip on power.
“I believe as the Progressive Conservatives go through a rebranding and reorganization, they’ll come back stronger. I’ve always said a real Progressive Conservative government would have sat at the table and talked.”
