N.B. removes mention of ‘unceded’ land from motion recognizing Reconciliation Day

New Brunswick is amending a motion recognizing the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation because of a First Nations land claim before the courts.

New Brunswick’s government has removed mention of “unceded” land from a motion recognizing the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation because of a First Nations title claim before the courts.

The amended motion also inserts wording explaining that residential schools were located in provinces “other than New Brunswick.”

The original motion, submitted by Green Party Leader David Coon, said New Brunswick is located on the “unceded and traditional homelands” of the Wolastoqiyik, Mi’kmaq and Peskotomuhkatiyik nations. It also described the abuse suffered by Indigenous children who were forced to attend residential schools.

“Over the course of more than 100 years, some 150,000 Indigenous children were ripped from their families and forced to attend church- and government-run residential schools where many suffered physical, mental, emotional and spiritual abuse, malnutrition, and neglect,” the first motion stated.

The new motion, which was adopted by the legislature on Thursday, states that New Brunswick is the “historical homeland” of the three First Nations and that the federal government “adopted a residential school system in provinces across Canada other than New Brunswick.”

On Friday, Premier Blaine Higgs told reporters the government can’t say one thing in a motion and something different in court. He was referring to a title claim filed last November by six Wolastoqey chiefs for 60 per cent of New Brunswick’s territory.

“We are being sued in the province for land claims, and if it is an undisputed situation we wouldn’t be in the court,” Higgs said.

“So for us to approve a motion that basically states that we are agreeing with the claim that all land here as claimed is unceded, then what would the point of our defence be in the courts?”