In an effort to prevent future shale gas exploration, Elsipogtog First Nation has filed a land claim against the province for aboriginal title to a large corner of Southeast New Brunswick.
The first nation has secured a notable B.C.-based aboriginal rights lawyer to represent them.
Bruce McIvor says the land claim is intended to reassert Mi’kmaq authority over about one-third of the province and also to benefit from the land itself.
“The claim iteself includes the land, the rivers, the lakes, the air, the sky, the ocean… everything,” he notes.
Elsipogtog First Nation Chief Arren Sock says this land claim is a grassroots movement which stems from a violent confrontation in Rexton three years ago when fracking protestors clashed with RCMP and dozens were arrested and police vehicles were set ablaze.
The New Brunswick Attorney General’s Office has issued a statement indicating it would not be appropriate for government to comment with the case now before the court.
