One year after the deadline set by the Quebec government to conclude a treaty with three Innu communities of the North Shore and Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, the First Nations concerned are making a public outing to denounce “the ‘impasse’ in which they find themselves.
In a press release released Monday, the chiefs of the First Nations of Essipit, Pekuakamiulnuatsh and Nutashkuan warn that the Petapan Treaty project “is jeopardized by the bad faith of the Quebec government.”
They argue that the government reneged on its commitment to reach an agreement before the deadline, set for March 31, 2023, imposed a new deadline and demanded new information.
A year later, the three leaders say they do not exclude any scenario, including that of legal action, which they are considering “very seriously”.
“We have been good players in listening to the new demands from Quebec. We responded with the greatest speed and a real desire to give negotiation a chance. But, there are limits to wanting to abuse our good faith,” assert the three leaders in a joint letter.
“Despite the openness we have demonstrated, the impasse remains and this seriously jeopardizes the draft treaty and, more broadly, the relations between our communities and the Quebec state,” they added.
The Petapan Treaty, whose negotiations have been underway for 40 years, represents an innovative approach to relations between the governments of Quebec and Canada and the First Nations.
It removes the three communities from the Indian Actgrants them the right to self-determination and recognizes their ancestral rights, including ancestral title to the territory, with agreed terms of exercise.
The First Nations and Ottawa concluded their negotiations before the agreed deadline, in March 2023, but those with Quebec are still ongoing.
In order to unblock things, the three leaders would like to meet directly with Prime Minister François Legault, but, according to them, “the Prime Minister keeps postponing this meeting until later.”
“As this sad anniversary of Quebec’s unfulfilled commitment arrives, will Quebec be able to change its attitude? Or, will we be forced to take more drastic actions to realize our communities’ ambition to build a new society based on the recognition of our rights? » raise chiefs Gilbert Dominique, of the Pekuakamiulnuatsh First Nation, Martin Dufour, of the Innus Essipit First Nation, and Réal Tettaut, of the Innu First Nation of Nutashkuan, in their missive.
They still hope to be able to meet Mr. Legault this year, but admit to being “not very optimistic”.