REGINA - The Executive of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations has condemned Saskatchewan’s Speech from the Throne, and in particular the government’s plans to defend the province’s jurisdiction over natural resources.
In a news release Wednesday, the FSIN stated the Sask Party government’s plans to introduce and amend legislation to clearly define and defend Saskatchewan's exclusive jurisdiction over natural resources is contrary to the spirit and intent of the numbered Treaties.
The organization was referring in particular to the Saskatchewan First Act, which was introduced and received first reading in the legislature Tuesday.
It was noted by FSIN that the federal government transferred its powers through the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement over natural resources to Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta back in 1930 “without fulfilling their duty to consult with First Nations.”
“It is time for Canada and Saskatchewan to stand up and correct these major breaches of Treaty,” said FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron in a statement.
“The Province is breaching the Treaty Land Entitlement Framework Agreements signed in the early 90s by selling unoccupied Crown land that was meant for the Government of Canada to fulfill its outstanding land-related treaty obligations.”
Cameron added that “these are our lands and waters since time immemorial. We have never surrendered to them. We only agreed to share our traditional lands through Treaty. Resources were never part of the Treaty discussions and remain exclusively First Nations despite the continued illegal occupation and extraction. These recent actions and comments by the provincial government are compounding this liability, and we are prepared to take this issue to the courts.”
During a news conference Tuesday at the legislature on the introduction of the Saskatchewan First Act, Minister of Justice and Attorney General Bronwyn Eyre said First Nations’ role was an “absolutely fundamental one."
She insisted there was no diminishing of treaty rights under the legislation, and instead pointed to how the Sask. First Act would help the First Nations economically.
“The fact is there is no diminishing or detracting of First Nation treaty rights according to what we are proposing. This is simply to unlock the economic potential of the province for the benefit of everyone, to protect it,” said Eyre.
She noted section 92A, the section of the Constitution that states provinces have jurisdiction over natural resources, “has been on the books for an awfully long time.”
“As I say, this (legislation) simply asserts that and our ability as a province to grow, and when we look at the incredible role that First Nations have played in unlocking that potential in this province — forestry, for example, employs more First Nations in Saskatchewan than any other province. We’ve seen enormous participation in the uranium factor. Cameco, traditionally, the biggest employer of First Nations in the country. We see the mines coming online in the North… these are good news for our Indigenous partners, and they say as much, they tell us as much. So this is about working together, about economic potential and unlocking it in the province and protecting it. There is no delineation between one set of rights and another. They’re absolutely complementary and remain so under the Constitution under s.35.”
