Deadline looms in Vautour family battle to remain on land in N.B. national park

Parks Canada is sticking to a March 31 deadline for the family to vacate the property and remove their belongings from the land on the east coast of New Brunswick.

A showdown is looming between Parks Canada and the family of the late Jackie Vautour over the occupancy of land in Kouchibouguac National Park.

Parks Canada is sticking to a March 31 deadline for the family to vacate the property and remove their belongings from the land on the east coast of New Brunswick.

Vautour staged a 50-year battle against expropriation after the park was created in 1969, living in a cabin without electricity until his death in February 2021.

The Vautour family maintain they are Metis-Acadian and the land is unceded Mi’kmaw territory that is subject to an ongoing court challenge.

Edmond Vautour, Jackie’s son, said in an interview Thursday that Steven Augustine, a hereditary chief of the Mi’kmaq Grand Council, accepts the family’s presence in the park. “He accepts us on the Mi’kmaw territory,” he said.

The family’s lawyer, Michael Swinwood, says he’s now waiting for the courts to set a date for a hearing, and there should be no evictions while the case remains before the courts.

“Rather than reconciliation, Parks Canada is acting adversarially,” Swinwood said in an interview Friday.

“The Mi’kmaq — specifically through Steven Augustine — are prepared to indicate that the Metis-Acadian are part of the traditional peoples of the Mi’kmaq,” Swinwood added.