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OTTAWA — The Canadian Press – Amid the court challenges, war of words, sit-ins and street protests that have marked First Nations relations with Canada’s resource sector, it might surprise some Canadians that aboriginal land management in this country is being held up as a model to the world.
Members of three remote native communities are in Sydney, Australia, this week, where the World Parks Congress is holding its sixth international summit. They’re part of a global movement showcasing ways to balance aboriginal rights, cultural protection, resource development and environmental stewardship.
“There’s some real leadership happening in Canada,” said Valerie Courtois, director of the Aboriginal Leadership Initiative for the International Boreal Conservation Campaign, before departing for Sydney this week.
Representatives of the Grand Cree of Quebec, the North West Territories’ Lutsel K’e and Manitoba’s Poplar River First Nation have been invited to the congress, which meets every 10 years to discuss biodiversity, conservation and the state of the world’s parks and protected areas.
This year, Canada has garnered global attention.
When the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Tsilhqot’in First Nation in B.C. had aboriginal title to more than 1,700 square kilometres of traditional territory, it’s fair to say the decision rattled the country’s resource sector.
“This is not merely a right of first refusal with respect to Crown land management or usage plans,” Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin wrote in the unanimous June 26 decision.
“Rather, it is a right to proactively use and manage the land.”
However that collective title was not unencumbered, said the court, and current generations must not make decisions “that would prevent future generations of the group from using and enjoying it.”
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