Mi’kmaw groups, Parks Canada to co-manage N.B. national parks, historic sites

A new agreement signed between Parks Canada and eight Mi'kmaq First Nations in New Brunswick will give the Mi'kmaq a hand in the management of national parks and historic sites.

Known as the The Rights Implementation Agreement, it creates a co-management board that will make decisions for New Brunswick’s two national parks and five of its national historic sites.

“It is very exciting,” said Tracey Cloud, director of trilateral negotiations with Mi’gmawe’l Tplu’taqnn Inc., or MTI.

“It has been about six, almost seven years in the making of negotiations.”

It was 300 years ago on Dec. 15, 1725, that the first Peace and Friendship Treaty was signed between the British government and Aboriginal people in what is now Atlantic Canada. 

While that treaty and subsequent ones enshrined rights for the Mi’kmaq to continue hunting, gathering and fishing practices on Crown land, those agreements haven’t always been followed.

That’s why the new agreement signed between Parks Canada and the Mi’kmaq First Nations is so important.

“The Mi’kmaq have had a consistent approach to honouring the obligations that were set out under the treaties,” said Cloud.

“And the Crown has also had a consistent approach, but generally in the opposite direction ... So we've been working on changing that.”

In addition to the seven groups represented by MTI, Kopit Lodge also signed on to the agreement on behalf of Elsipogtog First Nation. 

Cloud says that over the past few decades, the federal government has allowed for more Mi’kmaw practices in some locations, especially Kouchibouguac National Park.

“We've been alienated really from being able to practice rights-based activities,” she said. “So now we have the opportunity to develop stewardship plans to ensure our people are back out on the lands that they had prior to the park being implemented.”

Fundy National Park will also be included in the agreement, which allows for sustainable harvesting, restoration of wildlife and promotion of Mi’kmaw teachings.

“Parks Canada recognizes that these are unceded territories," said Julie LeBlanc, the New Brunswick Field Unit superintendent with Parks Canada. "The Mi’kmaq have always proven to have a great respect for the land and have been great partners in helping us, whether it be in terms of monitoring, harvesting and understanding what makes sense."