Chiefs seek to overturn ‘illegal’ 1930 act granting provinces control over resources
CBC News: Billions of dollars worth of oil, potash, uranium and other commodities are extracted across the Canadian Prairies every year, and First Nations say they’ve been illegally excluded from that windfall.
Now they say they’re launching a lawsuit to change that.
“We are united to claim rights that have never been extinguished to the land and the resources,” Cowessess First Nation Chief Erica Beaudin said Tuesday. “We will not stop until we have secured the future for our next seven generations.”
Beaudin and more than 20 other chiefs from across the Prairies attended a news conference Tuesday in Saskatoon. They want to quash the controversial 1930 Natural Resource Transfer Agreement (NRTA). In the NTRA, the federal government granted Prairie provincial governments exclusive control over natural resources.
First Nations leaders were excluded from the talks. Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations vice-chief Heather Bear said the government had no right to make that decision.
“It was unlawful in the 1930s, and it’s still unlawful today. We see this legislation as an immediate threat to our inherent and treaty and constitutional rights,” Bear said.
Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) Chief Brian Hardlotte said First Nations have been against the NRTA from the start. In the 1930s, it was not possible to mount an opposition, because it was illegal for First Nations to hire a lawyer or hold protests.
They began organizing against it more than a decade ago at the conference organized by PAGC and Manitoba leaders. Hardlotte said provincial and federal leaders are refusing to negotiate, so the only option is legal action.
He said First Nations don’t want total control, only to share the land and resources as promised in the treaties. “That’s all we’re asking,” Hardlotte said.
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It’s unclear when the lawsuit will be filed.
Saskatchewan government officials have said they believe the NRTA is a valid law. First Nations leaders say the provincial government’s recently passed Saskatchewan First Act seeks to further entrench what they call an injustice. The Saskatchewan First Act makes no mention of First Nations resource rights.
First Nations leaders, academics and others have also said the situation is urgent in light of a new wave of resource development in critical minerals such as helium and lithium. They say the provincial government has already granted hundreds of square kilometres worth of leases to companies with minimal or no consultation with First Nations.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jason Warick, Reporter
Jason Warick is a reporter with CBC Saskatoon.