A Mi’kmaq leader in Nova Scotia says the provincial government continues to ignore First Nations’ concerns on a new law they say targets their community’s ability to protect its territory.
Twila Gaudet, who works on behalf of the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs, says the law was recently pushed through the legislature without advanced notice or consultation.
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Among other things, the law prohibits protesters from blocking forest access roads or building a structure on Crown land.
Offenders face fines up to $50,000 and up to six months in jail.
Gaudet says the bill appears to target Mi’kmaq community members who are protesting what they say is unsustainable forest management practices in the Cape Breton Highlands.
Minister of L’nu Affairs Leah Martin says she is having conversations with the assembly and other chiefs, but she notes that the law does not legally require formal consultation with Mi’kmaq leaders.
The law, Gaudet says, “takes aim at Charter-protected freedoms of peaceful assembly and expression, and at structures used by the Mi’kmaq when exercising our constitutionally protected Indigenous and treaty rights.”
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