Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett hopes the New Brunswick government will work with the federal government and the Mi'kmaq on Aboriginal title in New Brunswick.

"This is a bilateral arrangement and we have to do what we believe is the best way forward and with the government of New Brunswick, we really hope we can work with them as partners," Bennett said in an interview with Information Morning Fredericton.

"We would very much love for them to be at the table and for us to arrive at an agreement with them as well."

The federal government and Elsipogtog First Nation signed a memorandum of understanding Thursday to start discussions about the Mi'kmaq claim of Aboriginal title to a third of New Brunswick.

"We have to work together in collaboration, and that brings us here today," said Elsipogtog Chief Arren Sock at the announcement Thursday. "We must negotiate or come to some understanding."
Jake Stewart, aboriginal affairs minister for New Brunswick, did not attend Thursday's announcement even though he was invited. Stewart was sent an invitation on April 25 to be part of the memorandum of understanding.

He said Friday that the provincial government wasn't part of the memorandum of understanding discussions prior to that, but he knew discussions were taking place.

The announcement "kind of came as a surprise to me," Stewart said. "I found out the night before and I would have probably gone down and been a part of it, if I didn't have cabinet at 9 o'clock in the morning."

Stewart said he's happy for Elsibogtog and is willing to work with the federal government and the Mi'kmaq going forward.

"I'm totally open to having this discussion."

Sparking a conversation

Bennett said the memorandum of understanding represents the beginning of conversations.

"It's the beginning of moving from an approach that has failed Canada forever in terms of denial of rights into an approach where we begin recognizing and affirming the rights," Bennett said.

Elsipogtog filed a claim in 2016 for Aboriginal title to a part of the province the Mi'kmaq call Sikniktuk, which encompasses the southeastern part of New Brunswick. That title would give the Mi'kmaq more say regarding the management of the land, resources and fisheries in the Sikniktuk region.

"This is what the original Peace and Friendship treaties were meant to do," Bennett said.

Peace and Friendship treaties were signed between Britain and Mi'kmaq, Wolastoqiyik, Abenaki, Penobscot and Passamaquoddy in the mid-1700s. The agreements recognized hunting, fishing and land-use rights to First Nations on the East Coast.

Bennett said it's a waste of time and money to go through the court system to settle land claims, and she said Canadians prefer a collaborative approach to working with First Nations, Inuit and Métis, rather than an adversarial one.

"Spending a lot of time and a lot of money in court to lose doesn't help anybody."

The memorandum of understanding is about implementing the rights that are protected in Section 35 of the Constitution Act, Bennett said. Section 35 affirms existing Aboriginal and treaty rights and defines Aboriginal peoples in Canada. The section says treaty rights include rights arising from land-claim agreements and are guaranteed to males and females.

"This is a reality now that Section 35 rights aren't optional and that we need to be able to work together, both as a federal government with all provincial and territorial governments and with the rights holders, the First Nations, Inuit and the Metis," Bennett said.

"We'd be in a lot better shape if we'd listened to First Nations and the first peoples of this land at the beginning."