The Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation is telling Premier Wab Kinew to end a 12-year-old agreement granting Métis harvesting rights on part of the First Nation’s traditional territory.
An Aug. 2 letter to the premier and ministers in charge of natural resources, Indigenous economic development and justice says there are no persons who can claim to hold rights as Métis persons to hunt, fish, trap or harvest within the traditional territory of the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation in Manitoba.
“Accordingly, it is the firm expectation of the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation that Manitoba will terminate the application of the Sept. 29, 2012 Manitoba Government-Manitoba Métis Federation Points of Agreement on Métis Harvesting in Manitoba and “so-called recognized areas for Métis natural resource harvesting” within traditional NCN territory, the letter obtained by the Free Press says.
The First Nation had not received a response from the province as of Monday, NCN Chief Angela Levasseur said. The chief said she was in an emergency meeting regarding wildfire smoke impacting the community and was unable to comment further.
The letter said the First Nation was never consulted about the province’s hunting agreement with the Métis federation, and only found out about it in a 2012 news release announcing it had been signed. The letter stated an assessment by NCN elders and knowledge keepers determined there was never a historic Métis community in the area, located 800 kilometres north of Winnipeg and 80 km west of Thompson.
“There has never been — and there is not now — an historic Métis community or a separate Métis territory within Nisichawayasi N’tuskenan.”
One Métis leader said he was “surprised and disappointed” by the “divisive” tone of the letter.
Will Goodon, the Manitoba Métis Federation minister of housing and property management who was instrumental in the recognition of Métis harvesting rights in Manitoba, questioned NCN limiting another Indigenous groups’ rights.
“There’s no hierarchy of Indigenous rights,” said Goodon, who in 2004 shot a duck in southwestern Manitoba and was charged by provincial conservation officers. After more than four years in court, Goodon was found not guilty because his harvesting rights were protected by Section 35 of the Constitution Act.
Goodon questioned the First Nation’s letter being “site specific” and asked if NCN would also restrict Inuit harvesters from hunting or fishing, and what NCN members would think if they were told they couldn’t hunt on traditional Métis or Dakota land to the south without permission from their governments.
“If their concern is about conservation, that’s not a problem. We can have a conversation about conservation.”– Will Goodon
He also questioned the timing of the letter after it followed outcry from the Manitoba Wildlife Federation over the provincial government recently reducing the number of moose tags issued to non-Indigenous hunters after First Nations expressed conservation concerns.
“If their concern is about conservation, that’s not a problem,” Goodon said. “We can have a conversation about conservation.”
The First Nation has never expressed concern about Métis harvesters, who also value resource conservation, until the letter came to light, Goodon said.
Goodon said Manitoba’s premier has recognized the constitutional harvesting rights of the Red River Métis.
“I think Premier Kinew is going to be firm on where he stands on these things.”
Neither Kinew nor the ministers named in the letter were made available for an interview Monday.
A statement from cabinet communications spokesman Caedmon Malowany said since receiving the First Nation’s letter, they are “carefully looking at how we can address their concerns.”
The government is open to meeting with the NCN chief, the MMF “and others who may be affected,” Malowany said.
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter
Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.
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