First Nations leaders pan Sask. First Act, threaten legal action and blockades | 24CA News

First Nations leaders have a message for Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe: kill the controversial Saskatchewan First Act or face blockades, authorized motion and different penalties.

“We have mandates from the chiefs in assembly to move forward legally [and] politically,” Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations Chief Bobby Cameron stated Friday afternoon.

“And we’re about to the point where we’re going to start blockading.”

Cameron and dozens of different chiefs gathered in Saskatoon Friday, as what they are saying was a public present of drive and unity towards the act.

The provincial authorities launched the Saskatchewan First Act this fall, calling it an assertion of unique provincial jurisdiction over pure assets and different rights. That declare is predicated on the controversial 1930 Natural Resources Transfer Agreement between the federal and provincial authorities.

However, First Nations leaders weren’t consulted earlier than that 1930 settlement was negotiated.

They additionally say Indigenous rights and the numbered treaties — most of which predate the creation of the province of Saskatchewan by a long time — supersede any provincial regulation. That precept has been upheld in quite a few current rulings by the Supreme Court of Canada, the United Nations and different our bodies, they word.

Cameron stated authorized motion is being initiated, and blockades may start within the new yr. That might be as much as particular person communities, Cameron stated, however the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations might be there to assist them.

The assets the province is attempting to claim jurisdiction over “are for our unborn children,” stated Moosomin First Nation Chief Cheryl Kahpeaysewat on Friday.

“Our ancestors did not sign away resources. They signed only to the depth of the plow for agriculture,” she stated, quoting the wording of one of many numbered treaties.

“Nothing in the Saskatchewan First [Act] acknowledges our treaties.”

The leaders say the Saskatchewan authorities’s introduction of the Saskatchewan First Act once more ignores First Nations rights and historical past.

Lac La Ronge Indian Band Chief Tammy Cook-Searson stated the act may infringe on entry to conventional searching and fishing practices, and reveals “total disregard” for the First Nations individuals who reside off the land.

Chief Roger Redman of Standing Buffalo First Nation stated the provincial authorities has “no basis for this act.”

“We are not going to stand by. We stood by for over 100 years of genocide forced on our people,” Redman stated.

In an e-mail, a provincial authorities official stated the Saskatchewan Act is not going to infringe on Indigenous and treaty rights, noting Section 35 of the Constitution Act acknowledges these rights.

The spokesperson’s e-mail additionally famous that a part of Saskatchewan’s Legislation Act — Section 2-43 — says that no provincial act “abrogates or derogates from the existing Aboriginal and treaty rights of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada that are recognized and affirmed by Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982.”

The Saskatchewan First Act is considered one of a number of current strikes by the provincial authorities to claim extra autonomy, which additionally embrace the doable creation of a brand new police drive and new technique of gathering taxes.

The provincial authorities can be threatening to refuse to implement new federal firearms legal guidelines.

Supporters of these concepts say Saskatchewan has been hampered by federal authorities over-reach, whereas critics say such strikes will make issues extra cumbersome and costly, and could also be unconstitutional.