FSIN applauds Minister Lemetti’s comments on NRTA

As the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations fights its own fights over natural resources and land, it’s applauding the federal justice minister in his comments about the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement (NRTA).

Last week, Minister David Lametti, while speaking with First Nations leaders, said that he would look into rescinding the NRTA. Many First Nations have called for just that action as they try to advance their own claims and treaty rights.

The NRTA transferred authority over land and natural resources from the federal government to the prairie provinces in the 1930s.

“This is a long outstanding issue that FSIN and others have been advocating for a long, long time now, especially since introduction of the Sask. First Act in Saskatchewan,” explained FSIN vice-chief Heather Bear.

Bear is on the FSIN’s lands and resources commission, including work on NRTA Management.

“I think what it has done is woke a sleeping giant that has been getting ready to rise up,” said Bear.

The vice-chief said it’s a fact that the spirit and intent of treaty was to share the land, but that it only extended to a plow’s depth.

“The assumed authority and responsibility that was transferred from the federal government to the province was just simply illegal – it was done without consultation, it was unilateral,” said Bear.
She said now is the time to start reconciling this situation.

“Not even just in terms of land but when we talk about the revenue and resources that have been extracted since the 1930s. Those things need to be dug up and dealt with immediately,” she explained.

In the meantime, Premier Scott Moe railed against the federal minister’s comments in a post on Twitter.