Wolastoq Grand Council and farmers oppose mining prospecting bill

With a tide of anger rapidly rising against controversial legislation giving prospectors permission to go on any private land in New Brunswick and take mineral samples without the owner’s permission, Wolastoq Grand Chief Ron Tremblay is warning that the legislation itself may also be on shaky constitutional grounds.

While farmers are increasing political pressure on the Higgs Conservative government to withdraw Bill 75, Chief Tremblay is reminding the province that Indigenous rights are protected under Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution.  

The Wolastoqewi (Maliseet) people “did not surrender a speck of our lands, one drop of our water systems or any of our natural resources when they signed the Peace and Friendship Treaties” in the 18th century, Tremblay said. “Wolastoqewi Traditional Chiefs only agreed to live in Peace and Friendship.” 

He also points to Article 5 of the 1725/26 Peace & Friendship Mascarene Treaty that states that “if any Indians are Injured By any of his Majesty’s Subjects or their Dependents They shall have ‘Satisfaction and Reparation’ made to them.”  

“We as Wolastoqewiyik have never received ‘Satisfaction or Reparation’ for any of our lost lands, waterways or resources. And we are also still seeking ‘Peace and Friendship,’” said Tremblay.

For property owners wondering what the new legislation could mean for them, the experience of Doland Collette is a real eye-opener. Collette and his son have a 200-acre farm near St. Antoine.

“Back in 2008, I came home one day to find a man walking in my hay field,” Collette said. “I intercepted the man and asked him what he was doing, and he told me he was surveying my land for a mine.”

The man in the Collette’s hay field turned out to be a uranium prospector who had never asked for permission to be on the land. Collette later found out that a mining company had staked a claim for 160 acres of his 200-acre farm.

“Some company was surveying my land and claiming it without ever having had the decency to even tell me what they were doing,” Collette said.   

In a recent letter to Premier Higgs and Natural Resources and Energy Development Minister Mike Holland, the Collettes say they do not want to relive such experiences. “Imagine having mining prospectors observing your comings and goings, taking notes of your daily habits and schedule, only to have them sneak around your land like cowards once you have left, in order to do their dirty work, unbeknownst to you. How unethical!”

Such “sneaking around” and filing claims to farms without even telling the owner almost cost the Collettes their farm. “That is how mining companies operate, sneaky and cowardly,” their letter stated to Premier Higgs and Minister Holland. 

“Now, you wish to give [mining company prospectors] full legal access to roam on anyone’s land, at any given time, without acknowledgment or consent by landowners. Why? Certainly not for New Brunswickers.” 

“Every landowner should be writing to Premier Higgs and the opposition and the media about Bill 75,” Colette said. He sees Bill 75 as the same kind of mistake the province made with uranium in 2008 and shale gas in 2013.

Marc Schnob shares the same concerns expressed by the Collettes.  

Schnob and his wife own and operate Green Bear Organic Farm in Kouchibouguac. He sees Bill 75 as an attack on rural areas because its effects will be felt by farmers, woodlot owners and other rural property owners, rather than by people who live in urban areas.

“Bill 75 favours big mining companies by giving them rights other people don’t have,” Schnob said.  “It also shows the provincial government doesn’t understand the value of agriculture and food production in a time of climate change and global hunger.” 

Schnob thinks the provincial government has the wrong priorities. “Premier Higgs was proud of himself for playing hardball with underpaid nurses, and now he’s doing the same with property owners by giving mining companies preferential treatment,” he said.

“Premier Higgs is trying to run the province like a corporate CEO and needs to realize he is answerable to the people.” Schnob wants the government to maintain the status quo which allows farmers and other private property owners to choose whether they wish to allow prospectors on their land.

Opponents gain time

The backlash against Bill 75 may already be being felt. Facing criticism for attempting to ram Bill 75 through the legislature with no public consultation, Conservative MLAs abstained from voting on a motion, sending the controversial legislation to the Standing Committee on Legal Amendments for further study.  

The motion by Green Party MLA Megan Mitton (Memramcook-Tantramar) gives opponents of Bill 75 more time to make their voices heard. While Mitton’s motion was supported by Liberal MLAs, NB Media Co-op telephone calls for comment from acting Liberal leader Roger Melanson were not returned.

“We were determined to stop Bill 75 from passing and becoming law at its third and final reading,” said Green Party leader David Coon. “Instead, it has now been referred to the Standing Committee on Law Amendments which can hold hearings for farmers and other rural landowners to present their concerns.”

Bill 75 removes the last protection farmers and other property owners have, namely the right to refuse permission for prospectors to be on their land, Coon said.  

“All the other mechanisms needed to allow a mining company to legally seize any private land and begin mining are already in place,” said Coon.

As farm groups oppose Bill 75 for taking away their right to protect their farms by refusing permission for mining prospectors to come on any private property, Rosaireville’s Roger Babin is deeply concerned about the bill.  

“I’m sure mining companies have certain places in mind that they want to go explore, and those who want their land explored can allow it, but for those who don’t, this bill is disastrous,” Babin said. 

Babin, a highly-respected voice on forestry, worked in forestry most of his life and founded the group Public for the Protection of the Forests of New Brunswick.  

“Our ancestors died to protect our land and now we have to fight our own government for our landowner rights. That’s tragic!” said Babin. 

Dallas McQuarrie is a NB Media Co-op writer who lives on unceded Mi’kmaq territory in Kent County.