FOREST MANAGEMENT: ANCESTRAL RIGHTS ARE NON-NEGOTIABLE
WENDAKE, QC, May 23, 2025 /CNW/ - A few weeks after the tabling of Bill 97 - An Act to modernize the forestry regime on the territory, the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) will have high standards in the various processes still underway.
In order to propose amendments to the bill, the AFNQL has set up a committee bringing together several First Nations chiefs. This committee is currently sitting at a high-level table with Minister Maïté Blanchette-Vézina, who is responsible for the bill.
"The high-level table must produce concrete results, and substantial changes to the bill are imperative. When it comes to the management of our territories and forests - the foundations of our identity and spirituality - failure to recognize our ancestral rights and title is no longer an option," said AFNQL Chief Francis Verreault-Paul
The ancestral rights of Indigenous peoples have been recognized and guaranteed for over 40 years by Canadian law, notably by section 35.1 of the Constitution Act, 1982.
"Rather than fully recognizing our ancestral rights on the territory, the bill simply grants us the possibility of pursuing activities for "domestic, ritual and social purposes". It's reductive, folkloristic, and doesn't meet Quebec's legal and constitutional obligations to First Nations," denounced Lucien Wabanonik, Chief of the Lac-Simon community and member of the AFNQL Chiefs' Committee on Forests.
The AFNQL wishes to collaborate, but reminds us that respect for ancestral rights is not a political option: it is a legal and moral obligation. The development of each new law is an opportunity to move the legal context towards this goal. Only legislative reconciliation will enable our peoples to live together in a collaborative manner, drawing on our knowledge and know-how to ensure the sustainability of our environment, our Nations and our cultures.
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