Wolastoqey Nation: Statement to Members on the Title Claim

Press Release

A Statement to Our Members

For too long, our Aboriginal and Treaty rights have been infringed upon by the Crown and Industry. We can no longer stand idly by as our lands, waters and resources continue to be exploited. We now feel that we are in a position to launch an Aboriginal title claim (“Title Claim”) and that we have no option at this point given the fact that our lands, waters and resources are in serious danger and our rights continue to be ignored. It is time that our Aboriginal title be recognized and respected so that we can have a say in what happens in our Territory and so that our rights, lands and resources can be preserved for future generations.

This is an exciting time, but we also know that you have a lot of questions, comments and concerns. This is healthy and we encourage this. We want your feedback and it is in fact critical to this Title Claim moving forward. As we stated in our November 19, 2019 statement to Wolastoqey members regarding the Title Claim and then again in the gatherings that were held in early 2020 for members of all 6 Wolastoqey Communities to discuss the Title Claim, we are committed to being transparent through this whole process and to sharing all information with you as the Claim progresses. The announcement about the Title Claim had to be kept a secret because we did not want the provincial or federal governments getting ahead of the news story. By keeping the filing a secret, we were able to keep the story focused on our rights and title. We also needed to file the Title Claim now since the government can use what they perceive to be a delay in our filing to try to throw our Title Claim out in court.

It is important to remember that Aboriginal title claims take a lot of time to go through the courts and it will likely be years until a trial date is set and the Title Claim sees a resolution. This is the first step of many. As we proceed through all of the “pre-trial” stages of the Title Claim, we will be engaging community members to help shape the Title Claim and to gather feedback and answer any questions, comments or concerns you may have.

We will be planning Community engagement sessions in November to engage members of the 6 Wolastoqey Communities on the Statement of Claim before it is filed and will provide more details on the sessions in the coming weeks. In the meantime, we will do our best to provide information on what Aboriginal title is, what it means to launch an Aboriginal title claim and the process and timeline for the Title Claim.

Read More: http://wnnb.wolastoqey.ca/2020/10/16/statement-to-members-on-the-title-claim/

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