Indigenous prairie leaders meet to discuss NRTA
- EFN Staff | August 20, 2019
A gathering to discuss the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement (NRTA) was held last week in Prince Albert with people from Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba who attended. Indigenous leaders, Elders, legal representatives, historians, and technical experts met together to discuss and make recommendations on addressing the NRTA issue based on Treaty Rights and Treaty Relationships. The summit kicked off on August 13th, 2019 at the Senator Allan Bird Gymnasium.
The three-day agenda included leadership dialogue, keynote presentations, plenaries, and historical background information, as well as recommendations.
The Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) Vice-Chief Chris Jobb attended the event and said the NRTA summit was an important dialogue to have with those who’ve attended.
“Coming together [with] the Western provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta, it’s something that started since 2011 but has been talked about for many generations since 1930. It’s never too late and we need to move forward on this,” he said. “We have to have that consensus of our people. The ripple effect of what’s happening in our communities…you see the genocide of our people [such as] residential schools, social problems, third world country housing, suicides, drugs and alcohol. We have a lack of resources of what we can do for our communities.”
Vice-Chief Jobb said he enjoyed the NRTA summit where he met new friends and rekindled with old friends and it was a good experience to see all kinds of cultures coming together.
“Collectively coming together as Western provinces, we are deeply effected by it,” he said. “We’re going to have a voice. Every time we do something, we have to come together but we have to have that common understanding what we need in that resolution.”
According to a statement by the summit host PAGC, the NRTA 1930 document allowed the federal government to unilaterally transfer lands and resources to the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. NRTA meetings and gatherings have been held for several years in different locations. Capacity building has occurred complemented with legal opinion, court cases, and recent forms of resource sharing agreements that benefit both First Nations and Canadian citizens. The summit builds on these experiences to move forward with concrete action in an era of reconciliation.
“I feel good about this on what we’re doing. We can’t forget the past leaders who handed the torch to us to move forward on this project,” said Vice-Chief Jobb. “We will hand the torch to our young generation but hopefully it’s in better light because we need those resources.”
The NRTA summit ended on August 15th.