Business backs off as land rights proclaimed

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Dan Ennis is a 60-year-old, self-described traditionalist member of the Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick who sees Indian Act- implemented, elected band councils as an extension of colonialist rule.

He and an indefinite number of other members of various Maliseet and Mi'kmaq communities formed a break-away group in 1996 that they call the Wulustuk Grand Council and which Ennis says is a return to the consensus-style government Indians had before European contact.

A Jan. 21 public statement, purportedly from this group but with Ennis as the only contact, appeared in the February edition of the Mi'kmaq-Maliseet Nations News. It sets out the Wulustuk Grand Council's position on land rights and its relationship with any non-Natives occupying or thinking about occupying what Wulustuk considers traditional Native land.

Ennis says his council held a meeting Jan. 15 wherein it was decided by consensus to issue the declaration on land rights. He said it was published in numerous mainstream newspapers in Eastern Canada and the bordering State of Maine.

Ennis' council operates outside the official sanction of elected band administrations, so it is not recognized by the Canadian government. Ennis made clear in a Feb. 17 interview this suits him fine. The Wulustuk council also is not recognized by the majority of Aboriginal people who work within elected First Nations' councils, according to one elected band official, who also expressed doubt that 50 to 75 people attend Wulustuk council's monthly meetings, as Ennis claims.

Even so, the Wulustuk press release apparently got noticed. Some non-Natives are said to be rethinking potential land deals in New Brunswick that could set them on a collision course with Natives.

By proclaiming a right to "traditional land," the Wulustuk Grand Council "addresses, challenges and duly forewarns the public regarding the validity and legality of buying, selling, managing and claiming title to lands that primarily have never been sold, ceded, surrendered, traded, given up, bartered, exchanged or compromised in any way by its original owners and overseers, the Wulustuk people," the statement states.

The document raises a "buyer beware" flag for all land along the Saint John River and encompasses traditional hunting, fishing and gathering territory of the Wulustukyeg (Maliseet) people in New Brunswick, Quebec and Maine.

Ennis says taking this stand shows the Wulustuk council is serious about resurrecting the kind of government his people had for thousands of years before colonial contact.

Another item about the traditional group, which first appeared in the Wulustuk Grand Council Newsletter, was republished in the January edition of the Mi'kmaq-Maliseet Nations News. It says Dan Ennis was Wulustuk's Tobique Keptin (headman) from 1996 (when Wulustuk was "re-established,") to 1999. Then last October he took on the duties of K'Chi Saugam, or grand chief, when the previous K'Chi Saugam, Ervin Polchies, relinquished the position. Ennis insists, though, the grand chief title is a mere formality - "Well, we had to play the white man's game" - and there are no elected positions or lines of authority in the Wulustuk council. All decisions are made by consensus, Ennis says.

The newspaper in which the two items appeared has not published any recent editorial on the Wulustuk Grand Council's credibility or lack of it and wasn't prepared to discuss it.

Tobique First Nation elected band councillor "Scrappy" (Ken) Perly did talk about the widely distributed statement.

"I forget the Latin term of what the meaning of his release was, Perly said, "but I understand the gist of it. He [Ennis] presented me with a copy before he sent it off to the press.

"There is a little group of people that I guess had the desire to form the confederacy," Perly said of Ennis' group. "I guess, more or less, looking back at the processes they used in the past. Whether it's effective politically or any other way, I can'tsee it. His letter did have an effect, though, on the business-making decisions of some investors on the outside. As a result of that, we've identified that there's one company that was to buy a hydro dam that is now backing away because of that published position of the confederacy," Perly said. "It more or less scared them into rethinking their long-term commitments in New Brunswick."

Perly said this wouldn't hurt Tobique First Nation. He said they now had the opportunity to purchase the hydro dam since they finished second in the bidding process.

"That's common knowledge within the business world that I'm in now, that there's a lot of hesitation on a lot of outside investment, especially long-term, where they're skeptical or they're unsure of what their futures are in New Brunswick after a declaration such as Mr. Ennis'," Perly said. "Long-term investment, of course, is going to be affected anyway in the business community if there is going to be even a hint of the possibility of the Mi'kmaq and Maliseets retaining their rights to the land in New Brunswick."

Perly said word of Ennis' press release has spread as far as Missouri that he knows of.

"I can't say it's detrimental to us," Perly continued. "If anything, I think it'll be beneficial where people will want to do business with the Indians first."

Ennis said there were numerous public enquiries the day after the statement went out: "every media from here to St. John." He said there was no response from Ottawa, but there was one from Maine. He said some "white individuals" asked him "what does this mean to me as a small, little old landowner here in Wulustuk territory?"

Ennis told Windspeaker he was preparing a commentary for CBC radio to deal with that question, and had already spoken to CBC TV since the statement came out.

"As to the concerns expressed to the Wulustuk Grand Council on the impact of this proclamation on home owners and/or small property owners, we can only respond in broad terms. Our rimary concerns are the large land holders, be they the government Crown lands or private and large land owners," Ennis said.

"As for the rest, meaning the small ones, the Wulustuk Grand Council will accord as much consideration to the situation of small property holders as your government accords them and their concerns when lands need to be expropriated, and we will accord as much consideration to their concerns as their forefathers gave to our people when they forcibly relocated them away from their traditional lands."

Ennis mentioned the Beothuk of Newfoundland and the Innu of Davis Inlet to illustrate his point.

"That's my response," Ennis concluded.

He said the February statement went to all the mainstream newspapers in New Brunswick and Maine, as well as Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and "some newspaper in Halifax." Perly said it appeared in the Globe and Mail.

"Whether it was costly or not, it had to be done," Ennis answered regarding a question about the expense. "Yeah, it ran into some bucks."

Asked how many people he represents, Ennis said "The Wulustukyeg people, there are nine reserve communities. Probably representing, I'd say the largest is where I'm from, which is Tobique, which is approximately maybe 1,800, going down to the smallest one, which I would guess would have to be Oromocto, which is probably 300, 400 maybe. So, probably . . . 6-7-8,000 people." He said the Wulustuk Grand Council has only recently begun to be revived after being "underground" for a couple hundred years.

The impetus behind the statement appearing now is that although land has been a hot topic for the three years of the council's revival, the New Brunswick government published notice last fall "something to the effect that they were considering selling off all their Crown land properties," Ennis said. "Mainly the N.B. Power, the Crown corporation that owns Crown land, if that's the right term, to private interests." Wulustuk's concern is that if that happened, outstandin land claims would not be resolved satisfactorily.

"One of the prime examples," continued Ennis, "is the Tobique Narrows dam that sits here on our reserve community, put there by N.B. Power back in the 40s, I believe, on some kind of verbal agreement with the chief of the day. The agreement said we would get N.B. Power for our reserve community into perpetuity - oh, boy, what a joke. Free - no cost to us! We have yet to see any free power come from that."

Ennis says his reserve's elected band council attempted to do research on the issue a few years ago, but were denied access (by the New Brunswick government) to "certain pertinent documents with the negotiation, what have you, that went on back then before they situated the dam on our land." He said the people of the day were not sufficiently knowledgeable about their rights to pursue the matter once they were blocked.

Wulustuk Grand Council is also concerned about the dam at King's Clear. Ennis believes if either dam is sold to private interests Aboriginal people will not be able to get compensation.

He says the provincial government has not responded to his group directly, but has made statements to the mainstream press. He acknowledges his council has not contacted the government directly either.

"I have no reason to contact them," Ennis said.

Asked about Wulustuk's relationship with the elected band councils, Ennis said it was "about the same as other traditional forms of government." He said when they started to hold meetings, they invited elected Maliseet and Mi'kmaq chiefs, who he says "were sort of open to it." But actual participation by elected band leaders has been minimal and inconsistent, Ennis said, as the chiefs allegedly view their own elected form of government as traditional.

"We're not out to pick a fight with our own people," Ennis says, and he insists the invitation is still out to all the bands to participate. At the same time, he says the reason elected councils don't come on side is