A new report commissioned by Parks Canada on Mealy Mountains National Park in Labrador is backing up concerns raised by the Innu Nation and Nunatsiavut Government on inclusion of the NunatuKavut Community Council in its governance framework.
The Innu Nation says a report commissioned by Parks Canada confirms that agreements with the NunatuKavut Community Council should end and a governance framework for the Mealy Mountains National Park Reserve be restored to reflect “established Indigenous and treaty-based rights” with the Innu Nation and Nunatsiavut Government.
The Innu Nation says its agreements with Canada recognize the “central role of Innu in the park’s planning, management and operation.” The Park Reserve is located entirely within Innu Settlement Lands.
The Innu say the report recommends that Parks Canada should “get on with their mandate of managing the park” in cooperation with the Innu Nation.
According to the Innu Nation the report also finds that Parks Canada “misinterpreted the implications of a 2007 NL Court of Appeal Decision requiring consultation with the NCC.
That decision required only a “low level of consultation in the specific circumstances of a southern Labrador highway project.”
Chief Simon Pokue says the reports’ findings confirm Innu Nation’s longstanding concerns, and Parks Canada must act swiftly and distinguish between unrecognized groups with “weak claims, and Indigenous government with recognized section 35 rights.”
