More money, more staff, more lawyers, but little progress on N.B. Indigenous issues

The Higgs government has doubled its spending and staffing on Indigenous issues since it took power, with little visible progress to show for it.

The province has also spent millions of dollars paying lawyers from two major law firms to sit on a steering committee overseeing the government's legal negotiations and court battles with First Nations.

It has led to a more centralized, legalistic approach that is stalling progress on a range of issues, Indigenous leaders say, while producing no breakthroughs in such major areas as land claims and resource royalties.

Nor has it yielded any signed development agreements that Premier Blaine Higgs pitched to chiefs last year to replace the agreements he cancelled on gas-tax sharing.

"New Brunswick taxpayers should be very frustrated with this new approach," said Darrah Beaver, executive director of the Wolastoqey Nation of New Brunswick, which represents chiefs and councils.

"It's costing them more money and creating and fuelling a lot more conflict with the First Nations, and in the end, where does it get us? No further ahead." 

CBC News has confirmed that:

Aboriginal Affairs Minister Arlene Dunn did not agree to an interview but provided CBC News with a lengthy written statement that called the changes "a significant reorganization" meant to give the government a more consistent approach. 

Before the overhaul, "the Province did not have one approach to consultation across all departments and did not ensure that each consultation met the standard that First Nations were requesting," Dunn said.

Some departments wrongly assumed informal discussion amounted to proper consultation, which "resulted in frustration, delays and wasted efforts," she said.

The initiative management branch now reviews anything that any department is working on with First Nations and brings in the consultation branch.

Dunn said that ensures the process "respects First Nations rights, is properly documented and achieves the intended result."

And the use of outside lawyers has led to "positive progress" such as an agreement to avoid a court battle and instead negotiate following the cancellation of gas tax revenue sharing agreements, Dunn added.

But Indigenous organizations say the new layers of bureaucracy and process, along with the inserting of the department into their dealings with other provincial departments, has stalled progress on a range of issues.