Buffalo River Dene Nation drummers at an Idle No More protest in 2013.
Just last year, Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeals resolved a dispute between Buffalo River Dene Nation and the province over the treaty duty to consult, but the same issue is flaring up again.
More than two years ago, Buffalo River Dene Nation took the province to court to defend their treaty rights, saying Saskatchewan had breached its duty to consult on an exploration permit it had issued.
This time, Buffalo River says the province went ahead with approving two licenses to IconOil for a proposed test drilling project on Treaty 10 land near Dillon, even though the government was well aware it needed to meet with them to discuss adverse impacts first.
Former chief Lance Byhette, speaking as a representative for the current chief, says recently there has been noticeable movement on their traditional hunting and sacred grounds.
“They have equipment out there, so they did the soil moving and that, so the drilling is happening as we speak,” he said.
The Chief and representatives say the province did not consult them. The current chief, Eileen Morrison, says the government hasn’t been responding to meeting requests.
“Personally it upsets me to see this happening in our traditional territory,” Byhette said. “It’s very upsetting to see that, as a First Nations member, to see individuals just coming into our area without even talking to us.”
He said the First Nation’s goal is to maintain its land for future generations, and they don’t need to look any further than development and pollution that’s “happening right across the border, 50 kilometres away with the oil sands” to know traditional territory needs to be protected.
Byhette said their 1906 treaty is being breached.
“We negotiated for the trapping, hunting, fishing, gathering, and we do still practice that in our traditional area,” he said. “So with that in mind our treaty’s been breached and there’s no consultation left from the provincial government whatsoever.”
Even more frustrating to Byhette, is that he’s confident Buffalo River Dene Nation and the government could find a middle ground – if only they were invited to the table for a meaningful conversation.