(Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Natural Resources

First Nations leaders renew call for share of resource revenues

Aug 13, 2019 | 3:32 PM

Chiefs, elders and technical experts from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have gathered in Prince Albert this week to discuss ways to fix a document that was signed over 80 years ago.

The Natural Resources Transfer Agreement (NRTA), signed in 1930, transferred control of resource development from the federal government to the provincial governments. First Nations communities were excluded from the agreement and as such have been fighting for decades for a share. In his opening remarks at the summit, Saskatchewan Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) Second Vice-Chief David Pratt told the chiefs, the province has collected billions of dollars off resource development.

“Canada is always touting the prosperity that they have, the quality but it’s not that way for First Nations and we should be some of the wealthiest people in all the world when it comes to the amount if resources and wealth that is taken from the land,” he said.

Pratt said the FSIN would support any recommendation that came out of the summit, adding the chiefs need to look at a strategy.

“Whether or not we pursue legal court action against Canada for violation of Treaty I don’t know what your directions will be over the course of the next few days,” he said.

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Grand Chief Hardlotte addressed the Chiefs during the opening remarks of the NRTA Summit. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

Prince Albert Grand Council Brian Hardlotte welcomed the chiefs to Prince Albert and said the gatherings are nice but action is what is needed.

“You know to us, we say a Treaty is pretty simple. You know the Treaty right to shelter, health and education. But I guess to the government and the Crown, especially the government, maybe it means a little different to them,” he said, adding Treaty violations have occurred over and over again.

Prior to the opening of the summit, Hardlotte sat down with paNOW and discussed how the current act does not make sense.

“The province won’t share revenues with the First Nations people and yet they will share revenue with the municipalities,” he said.

Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta Grand Chief Arthur Naskey was among the chiefs in attendance and said Saskatchewan and Alberta share the same concerns when it comes to resource development, adding communities have come to rely too much on the federal government for assistance.

“That’s not who we were in the beginning. We lived off the land, lived as free people, lived and governed our ways and laws,” he said.

Naskey said when the agreement was signed, First Nations people did not have a voice but now that’s changed, and they are saying ‘enough is enough,’ he said.

The summit runs Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at the Senator Allen Bird Memorial Gymnasium.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell