Current Problems: Treaties and Land Claims

Exploring Stakeholder: "Government of New Brunswick"

Updates on this page: 22
 

February 8, 2024


Judge rules in favour of big timber companies in Aboriginal title claim

First Peoples Law Report: The Penticton Herald – The owners of New Brunswick’s big timber companies are likely breathing a sigh of relief after a judge presiding over a large Indigenous title claim ruled in their favour on an important legal question. In a decision issued Feb. 1 and obtained by Brunswick News, Justice Kathryn...

December 8, 2023


New Brunswick Indigenous lawsuit ‘unprecedented in this country,’ says lawyer

Wolastoqey Nation wants certification of its title-claim lawsuit, but counsel for those affected want the court to strike down the motion John Chilibeck · Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Daily Gleaner | Posted: Dec. 8, 2023, 8:09 a.m. | Updated: Dec. 8, 2023, 8:09 a.m. | 8 Min Read NationTalk: SALTWIRE – SAINT JOHN, N.B. —...

October 13, 2023


10 years after RCMP raided N.B. anti-fracking camp, Aboriginal title claim ongoing

‘If they … really got into the heart of the problem, I think we wouldn’t have this kind of protesting’ CBC Indigenous: It may have been 10 years ago, but members of Elsipogtog First Nation who were on the frontline when the RCMP raided an anti-fracking encampment near Rexton, N.B., say the events of that day are still fresh in...

August 25, 2023


Higgs doubles down on stance that Wolastoqey title claim threatens smaller property owners

Lawyer, Wolastoqey chief maintain assertion by premier is false CBC News: Premier Blaine Higgs and his government are doubling down on their stance that an Aboriginal title claim for roughly half of New Brunswick could impact properties owned by smaller landowners, despite insistence by the claim’s proponents that that’s not what they’re after. The province filed a motion in...

July 5, 2023


N.B. has set more land aside for the maple syrup industry. Not everybody is happy

Mi’kmaw communities say they were not consulted about province’s plan Alexandre Silberman · CBC News · Posted: Jul 05, 2023 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: July 5 CBC News: New Brunswick’s growing maple syrup industry will now have access to an additional 5,000 hectares of Crown land over the next five years, the first increase since 2015.  The...

May 19, 2023


‘It needs to be a day of reckoning:’ Parliamentary committee studying land back

‘I think this study will really explore the connection of Indigenous people to land in a way that people don’t naturally equate to property.’  A school bus rests on the road at 1492 Land Back Lane Blockade in Caledonia, Ont. Photo: APTN file  APTN News: The standing committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs is undertaking...

May 12, 2023


An East Coast fight over fracking ‘could get ugly,’ First Nations warn

NationTalk: Canada’s National Observer – New Brunswick can count on a huge backlash if it follows through on its recent comments about fracking natural gas, six First Nations chiefs in the province say. “The issue could get ugly here,” Chief Allan Polchies Jr. of Sitansisk, St.Mary’s First Nation, told Canada’s National Observer. In the past few months,...

May 12, 2023


First Nations chiefs blast Higgs over report he is prepared to frack without their consent

Premier quoted as saying, ‘We gotta get on with it’ CBC News: Mi’kmaw and Wolastoqey communities in New Brunswick are slamming comments reportedly made by Premier Blaine Higgs indicating that he’s prepared to go ahead with fracking without their approval. They say his recent comments “again show his complete disregard” for the rights of First Nations....

April 12, 2023


Trudeau says premiers’ claims about natural resources power grab have ‘no grounding in truth’

Premiers criticized justice minister for saying Ottawa will look at resource agreement CBC News: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing the premiers of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba of misinterpreting remarks by a federal minister on whether Ottawa might review agreements that give those provinces control of natural resources. “Let me be very clear. The minister of...

April 11, 2023


Western premiers blast Lametti for suggesting Ottawa might ‘look at’ provinces’ power over natural resources

Lametti told an AFN meeting he would examine calls to rescind Natural Resources Transfer Act CBC News: Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and three western premiers are calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to disassociate his government from comments made by his justice minister — who promised last week to “look at” a decades-old law that...

April 8, 2023


Canada is sitting on a critical minerals motherlode. But is it ready for the new gold rush?

Proponents say Canada must do more to turn aspiration into action CBC News: Drive two hours north of Ottawa, put on a hard hat and bright orange vest, descend into a pit — and you find yourself on the frontline in the fight to be part of the new, green economy. A mining project might not...

March 17, 2023


Forestry companies say they’re at risk because of Wolastoqey title claim to more than half N.B.

Companies file three separate motions with the court CBC News: Some of the New Brunswick’s largest forestry companies say their business operations are at risk as a result of a title claim by the Wolastoqey Nation for about 60 per cent of land in the province.  Three companies — and several subsidiaries — want a specific document removed from the...

March 9, 2023


Mi’kmaq land claim in New Brunswick signals Indigenous nations ‘increasingly assertive over title’

Indigenous peoples in province did not surrender title to land through treaties, says Bruce McIvor First Peoples Law Report: Canadian Lawyer – Last week, the Mi’gmawe’l Tplu’taqnn Inc. (MTI), a group of eight Mi’kmaq communities in New Brunswick, circulated a map identifying the lands to which they say the Mi’kmaq Nation holds title, and over...

February 28, 2023


Some traditional lands to return to Wolastoqey Nation, agreement signed

AV Group signs memorandum of understanding despite being named in land title claim by Wolastoqey chiefs CBC News: A New Brunswick forestry company is agreeing to transfer a parcel of land to Wolastoqey communities in the province and allow their members input into their forest management practices. The agreement is part of a memorandum of...

February 21, 2023


Wolastoqiyik, Mi’kmaq say they’re allies in land rights despite overlapping title claims

‘Our biggest challenge is going to have the province recognize it,’ says Chief Patricia Bernard CBC News: As several Indigenous nations in eastern Canada make overlapping claims to their traditional lands, they say the biggest obstacle won’t be dealing with each other, but with the government of New Brunswick. Last week, Mi’gmawe’l Tplu’taqnn Inc. (MTI),...

February 15, 2023


Mi’kmaw First Nations expand Aboriginal title claim to include almost all of N.B.

Claim expands on 2016 Elsipogtog claim that covered a third of province CBC News: Mi’kmaw communities in New Brunswick are once again asserting Aboriginal title to land in the province — and it’s a lot more land than in the previous claim.  In fact, according to a map released on Wednesday, the most recent claim covers nearly...

September 21, 2022


Wolastoqey chiefs accuse N.B. Power of scuttling negotiations over Mactaquac dam refurbishment

N.B. Power embarking on project to keep dam operating until 2068 CBC: Wolastoqey chiefs in New Brunswick say a land title claim they filed is being used as justification for N.B. Power providing less compensation to their communities over a massive planned upgrade to the Mactaquac dam and generating station. The narrowing of negotiating terms signals a step back...

July 27, 2022


The Wolastoqey title claim in N.B., a centuries-old issue and the honourable solution

New Brunswick never signed a land-sharing treaty and is in violation of laws governing compensation. It’s time for a resource revenue-sharing agreement. Policy Options: In New Brunswick, a Mi’kmaw title claim by the Wolastoqey Nations is underpinned by a simple truth: the Mi’kmaw Nation of New Brunswick was unfairly dispossessed from its  traditional territory by Euro-Canadian...

December 1, 2021


Peace and Friendship Treaties 1725 & 1778

APTN- The chiefs of Wolastoqey Nation have added to their lawsuit against the province of New Brunswick, this time adding a number of corporations for conducting business on their territory without consent…the chiefs said that the corporations operate on “20 percent of the more than five million hectares identified in the claim as the traditional...

October 15, 2021


Peace and Friendship Treaties 1725 & 1778

Government of New Brunswick – GNB new policy on territorial land acknowledgment which forbids GNB staff from issuing territorial or title acknowledgments, is purported to be in partial response to the Wolastoqey title claim. We were forced to file a title claim because our rights continue to be ignored by GNB. Now, in response to...

April 13, 2021


Ongoing failure to consult with Wolastoqey Chiefs

Wolastoqey Chiefs – Premier Blaine Higgs cancelled all tax revenue sharing agreements with New Brunswick First Nations that had been in place for over 25 tears. These agreements were established to offset the ongoing significant gap “in the per capita funding federal and provincial governments provide for education and social services for First Nations reserves’...

October 5, 2020


Peace and Friendship Treaties 1725 & 1778

NationTalk – The six Wolastoqey Communities in New Brunswick – Matawaskiye (Madawaska), Neqotkuk (Tobique), Wotstak (Woodstock), Pilick (Kingsclear), Sitansisk (St. Mary’s) and Welamukotuk (Oromocto) – announced they will be filing a lawsuit seeking the Court’s recognition of the Wolastoqey Nation’s title to lands in New Brunswick. Between 1725 and 1778, the Wolastoqey Nation negotiated and...

Filter This Page

chevron_rightby Indigenous Group


Explore Other Stakeholders