Premier pushes back against N.B. land claim

New Brunswick’s premier has publicly assailed an “unprecedented” land title claim by six First Nations communities after it was amended this week to target some of the province’s biggest corporations.

The comments by Premier Blaine Higgs are being described by one of the chiefs involved in the legal action as “fear mongering” that’s meant to turn New Brunswickers against the claim.

“I cannot stand by as premier and just let things unfold, knowing that most New Brunswickers are unaware,” Higgs said Wednesday.

“This impacts jobs, land ownerships, private investments and our province’s entire economy.”

Almost a year ago, the Wolastoqey First Nation filed its land title claim against the federal and provincial governments, asking courts to confirm Aboriginal title on more than five million hectares of land — about 60 per cent of New Brunswick — originally occupied by the Wolastoqey.

On Tuesday, they modified that claim to include six companies — J.D. Irving, NB Power, Acadian Timber, Twin Rivers Paper, HJ Crabbe and Sons and A.V. Group — mostly forestry and pulp businesses — as defendants alongside the two tiers of government.

The Wolastoqey seek the return of identified parcels of land from those corporations and compensation from the Crown for the profits reaped from that land.

On Wednesday, during a news conference in which he used some variation of the phrase “60 per cent of the province” nearly a dozen times, Higgs alleged the Indigenous claim would be dangerous to the land and homes of private New Brunswickers, despite specific Wolastoqey statements to the contrary.

While professing reluctance to speak on a matter before the courts,

Higgs suggested he believes the province’s very well-being is at stake.

“We’ve seen assurances from some of the chiefs that it does not impact private lands other than the named companies. The claim does not clarify that,” he said.

“The concern is the claim on 60 per cent of the province and all of the many private lands that this could lead to.”

The Wolastoqey claim seeks ownership on specific plots of land owned by the named companies, identified in an appendix titled Schedule “B,”. It also seeks ownership of some particular plots owned by the Crown.

“In respect of lands in the Traditional Lands that are not held by the Crown Defendants and which are not set out in Schedule ‘B,’ the return of these lands is not sought by the Plaintiffs in this litigation,” reads the claim.

Higgs contended he was concerned there could be future addons.

“Today, it’s on a number of companies, but tomorrow, it could be on a number of more companies. There’s no limits here other than it’s 60 per cent of the province. We have to have clarity around that,” he said later.

From the perspective of Chief Patricia Bernard of the Matawaskiye, one of the six Wolastoqey communities involved in the claim, that’s a scare tactic on Higgs’ part.

“It’s also not clear that I’m going to go buy a new truck tomorrow, but because I don’t say that (it doesn’t mean that’s) what I’m going to do,” she said. “Our claim lays out what we want, who we’re going after, and what we didn’t put in the claim is what we’re not doing.”

Bernard pointed out that while the original claim was filed a year ago, the government did not see fit to hold a news conference over it until the claim was amended to include some of the province’s larger corporations.