Treaty Day was celebrated in Fredericton yesterday to mark the signing of treaties between the British Crown and the Maliseet First Nations in the 1700s.
Tobique First Nation Chief Ross Perley told CBC the Maliseet are considering filing an Aboriginal title claim in the courts for traditional lands in western New Brunswick. He says they are talking to their elders to gather all the traditional knowledge they can as well as looking at hiring an ethno-historian to build their case.
An Aboriginal title claim could give First Nations a greater say over any resource development in the area. In the last year the Mi’kmaq have filed an aboriginal title claims against the federal government for lands in the southeast part of the province.