Fracking in New Brunswick --SWN issued notice of eviction by Geptin of District Grand Council

[Stewart Vriesinga]

I'm still with CPT, still trying to be an ally for communities protecting their sovereignty, their way of life, their local environment and Mother Earth from global corporations and the dominant culture's insatiable appetite for  fuel and consumer goods, but with the Aboriginal Justice Team. We are currently in New Brunswick Canada, standing with the Elsipogtog community and their allies in their determined efforts to protect Mother Earth and prevent SWN from Fracking up their homeland. (Fracking refers to  new technology of hydraulically fracturing shale rock --pumping a very high pressure water-chemical solution into the ground, thereby breaking up the rock so that it will release trapped natural gas)

I plan on returning to Colombia in December. 

I thought I would share this eviction notice with you all. This account of it appeared in the Halifax Media Co-OP, and was written by Miles Howe. (Click on the tittle to view the original)

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SWN issued notice of eviction by Geptin of District Grand Council

Shale gas company's eviction notice follows earlier public notice issuance

by Miles Howe

Photo: Miles Howe

ELSIPOGTOG, NEW BRUNSWICK - Noel Augustine, Geptin of the Migmag Grand Council of the Signigtog District, has issued a notice of eviction to SWN Resources Canada. The district of Signigtog comprises much of southern New Brunswick and part of northern Nova Scotia. As Geptin, Augustine represents the traditional form of government for the area.

 

The notice of eviction, sent by registered mail on Wednesday, July 24th, to Mike Ezell, Moncton's representative of SWN Resources Canada, is the second letter that Augustine has sent to the gas extraction company. The first letter, sent in early June, was a public notice issuance that no shale gas exploration or drilling is to occur in the Signigtog district. It has clearly been ignored. 

 

The notice of eviction reads as follows:

 

Dear Mike Ezell,

 

The people of the sovereign Mi'kmaq Nation in the Territory of Signigtog do hereby serve this NOTICE OF EVICTION to Southwestern Energy Company, SWN Resources Canada, and any affiliated subsidiary company or contractor engaged in shale gas exploration or development in the Territory of Signigtog. Any permit, lease, license, agreement or authorization of any kind issued by the Province of New Brunswick or Government of Canada related to shale gas exploration in the Signigtog District is VOID and illegal.

 

On May 14, 2013 the Band Council of Elsipogtog First Nation passed a resolution opposing shale gs exploration and development within Elsipogtog First Nation and the Province of New Brunswick citing concerns about the environment and the need for direct consultation by the Crown. On May 30, 2013, the Migmag Grand Council of the Signigtog District issued a notice prohibiting all "shale gas exploration and/or development" without the "expressed written consent and full participation of the Migmag Grand Council and the Migmag people of the Signigtog District."

 

The Migmag Grand Council are the signators of all the Migmag peace and friendship treaties and holds title to all lands in the Signigtog District. From time immemorial, the people of the Signigtog District governed y the Grand Council, have lived upon our traditional lands, governed by our own political system, language, culture, spiritual and diverse means of livelihood. We have never surrendered our sovereignty or jurisdiction over our lands. Our laws are as valid and binding today as in the time of our ancestors. New Brunswick is unceded land and subject to Migmag jurisdiction.

 

Sincerely, 

 

Geptin Noel J. Augustine

Migmag Grand Council

 

See also:

Gone for the summer - SWN Resources Canada folds 'til September

The making of a Maliseet warrior

All night Anti-shale gas truck seizure, road block, ends peacefully despite RCMP negotiation failure.

 

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Posted By Blogger to Stewart in Colombia at 8/02/2013 11:58:00 AM