In an attempt to make their voices and concerns heard with the province, Indigenous leaders in Saskatchewan gathered at the Regina Legislature on Monday morning to plead with the Saskatchewan government to stop the sales of Crown lands.
“First Nations say that if government continues down this reckless path, they will be displaced. Not once, but twice from their traditional territories,” said Betty Nippi-Albright, the Opposition First Nations and Metis Relations Critic.
Indigenous leaders such as the Onion Lake Cree Nation Okimaw (Chief) and Yellow Quill First Nation leadership joined Nippi-Albright to hold a media conference on Jan. 23, 2023, to press the provincial government to stop and listen to their pleas.
“The duty to consult requires that the government have a meaningful dialogue with Indigenous people when any government actions might negatively impact Indigenous rights,” said Nippi-Albright.
“These leaders are sounding the alarm on a government that has failed to consult, failed to accommodate and failed to mitigate.”
The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) said in a media release that the province’s selling of Crown lands infringes upon First Nations’ inherent treaty rights to land for traditional and cultural use.
“We oppose the illegal sale and lease of Crown lands as it blocks First Nations from exercising their Treaty Rights to hunt, fish and trap,” stated FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron.
“The province is contradicting their own policies brought in the 1990s.”
According to the province website, the next online auction opens at the end of January. Global News reached out to the province for a comment but did not receive a response in time.
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