Provincial pasture meetings fall short of true consultation, say First Nations

The organization representing 74 Saskatchewan First Nations says the government is not offering proper consultations about the future of 780,000 acres of Crownowned pasture.

Government officials indicate consultations could continue into the summer if necessary.

In the March 22 budget, the province announced it will phase out the provincial pasture program over the next three years and consider selling the pastures or dividing them up into more manageable units.

Recent meetings about the pastures have left aboriginal leaders frustrated.

Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations Chief Bobby Cameron said the meetings, the first of which took place in Prince Albert on Monday, are not consultations but “information sessions.” He attended with several First Nations leaders to find Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart absent, he said.

“(There needs) to be more respect for treaty rights and that has to come from Minister Stewart. That face-to-face meeting ... that government-to-government relationship, that’s what has to happen — not sending staff and technicians to so-and-so city for the afternoon to say, ‘We consulted with First Nations people.’ That’s not consultation.”

Wally Hoehn, executive director of the Ministry of Agriculture’s lands branch, said the decision to end the pasture program won’t affect access for First Nations and Metis communities.

He said the meetings — a second is set for Thursday in Regina — are to provide information on the phase-out and collect information on how First Nations and Metis communities access the land to form a recommendation for government, expected in July. He said no decisions have been made, and no access has been limited.

“If the decision we make in July was to issue some kind of lease that impacted those rights — so no longer would the First Nations or Metis be able to hunt, fish or trap — we would have to do a more intense level of consultation. And historically, it would be with First Nation and Metis communities in close proximity to those pastures,” Hoehn said.

An FSIN news release said it will seek further direction from its members if the province “ignores its legal obligations in the future use of these pasture lands.”