P.E.I. Mi'kmaq 'disappointed' in dismissal of Mill River land sale appeal

The Mi'kmaq of P.E.I. are disappointed after the P.E.I. Court of Appeal decision to dismiss their appeal on the sale of the Mill River resort this week.

The court dismissed both Mi'kmaq requestson Wednesday to declare the province failed to fulfil its duty to consult, and to void the province's order-in-council that transferred the land to private businessman Don McDougall.

"Obviously, we are disappointed with the decision and we are very concerned about many statements contained in the decision," Darlene Bernard, chief of Lennox Island First Nation,said in a release from L'nuey.

L'nuey is anew rights-based initiative that will focus on protecting and preserving the constitutionally-entrenched rights of the Mi'kmaq people on P.E.I.

"We will be reviewing the decision in detail with our legal counsel before deciding upon next steps," Bernardsaid in the release.

The province sold the land in western P.E.I. in 2017. The Mi'kmaq claimed the province did not meet its duty to consult and challenged the sale in January 2018.

In June of thatyear, theP.E.I. Supreme Court dismissedthe challenge, sayinggovernment met, and exceeded, its duty to consult and the Mi'kmaq appealed the decision.

Duty to consult met, says court

That was reiterated in the court decision Wednesday.

Duty to consult was not triggered because the sale of Mill River had no adverse effect on Aboriginal claims, Chief JusticeDavid H. Jenkins wrote in the decision.

"There was no Mi'kmaq use or interest in the property, either historic or present day, to be protected," Jenkins wrote.

Jenkins said even if the duty to consultwas triggered,the province would have met, and exceeded that duty.

Mi'kmaq plan to continue fight

In 2005, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that "the Crown has a duty to consult and, where appropriate, accommodate when the Crown contemplates conduct that might adversely impact potential or established Aboriginal or treaty rights."

The Mi'kmaq provided little evidence or information to show how its asserted title claim would be eventually proven, Jenkins wrote in his decision.

"For decades, the pathway to assert the constitutionally-protected rights of Indigenous Canadians has seen many setbacks on the route to success,"said Roderick Gould Jr., chief of Abegweit First Nation, in the release.

"We will not let this setback deter us from our efforts to defend the rights of the Mi'kmaq today and into the future."

A decision regarding the Mi'kmaq of P.E.I.'s next steps will be announced in the coming weeks, the release said.

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