Continued government dismissal of concerns will result in legal action

Athabasca Chipewyan Chief Allan Adam is confident Treaty 8 members will stand behind any legal action launched by a First Nations member and is just as confident that legal action will be required in order for the Alberta government to take recommendations by the First Nations seriously when it comes to drafting the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan.

“If it continues to go this direction, there will be legal action taken by the First Nations that are going to be affected by (LARP) and I assure you that it will happen,” said Adam, in a press conference held June 6 following a meeting with two ministers and two department representatives. “From my understanding Treaty 8 will probably be on board in regards to a legal action if … First Nations (have) to launch a case.”

Adam referred to the morning meeting in which ministers Len Webber (Aboriginal Relations) and Mel Knight (Sustainable Resource Development) and department representatives from Tourism, Parks and Recreation, and Environment agreed to look at technical reports provided by Adam and Mikisew Cree Chief Roxanne Marcel but didn’t commit to making changes. The meeting came on the final day for feedback from the public to the proposed LARP.

LARP was released in April to the criticism of Adam and Marcel, who claimed the government ignored recommendations from the two First Nations.
“We are opposing LARP because it is inadequate in ensuring protection of our rights as First Nations people,” said Marcel.

Dr. Petr Komers, hired by the two northern First Nations to conduct a technical review and assessment of LARP, said the only apparent reason for the areas the government selected to leave untouched – only 20 per cent of the land-base recommended by the First Nations for protection – was that the areas had no existing oil or gas leases.

Komers, a wildlife ecology professor at the University of Calgary, recommended that the province select protected lands based on a traditional resource-use analysis that would accommodate First Nations’ needs and an ecological analysis that linked protected land areas.

Dr. David Schindler, an ecology professor at the University of Alberta, was harsh in his criticism of the government’s action, noting that the two hours it took him to fill out an on-line questionnaire in response to LARP was not an effective tool for response from First Nations people. He noted the government was assuming that everyone wanted to see development continue at the rapid growth of seven and a half per cent. That rate, said Schindler, was unsustainable.

“If you have big development coming in on land that you’ve lived for generations and they told you we’re going to develop this land … we’ll consult you as we do it. The only mention of what they’ll do with Native people in here is that they’ll be consulted. I don’t think any Alberta farmer would think that was good enough if it was his land,” said Schindler.

Schindler challenged the province to convene a panel of experts to review LARP and to put together a scientifically-defensible plan.

 Adam said First Nations wanted a co-management approach to the area outlined in LARP.

 “We think a co-management plan would protect harvest rights, protect trapping rights …. We want to have a monitoring program that’s going to make sure that when something happens, there will be red flags, saying there’s a concern here that we want addressing, have that open dialogue between First Nations and the province of Alberta,” said Adam.

Adam said he knew of no successful co-management models because existing government policies limited how an area could be managed and didn’t adequately take into consideration the needs of the non-government party.