Mount Allison politics professor Dr. Mario Levesque and his co-editors with the Journal of New Brunswick Studies knew they wanted to mark the upcoming 25th anniversary of the Marshall decisions — the landmark Supreme Court rulings in 1999 which affirmed the rights of First Nations to hunt, fish, and gather food on their unceded and traditional territories.

So the editors put out a call for papers for a special edition of the journal to come out in 2024, exploring the impact of the decisions. Then they decided to take things one step further.

“Along the way, we said it would be a great idea to bring our contributors together in a workshop to explore their contributions and to debate the issues,” says Levesque.

And so Rough Waters: The Legacy of the Marshall Decisions, a two-day workshop happening at Mount Allison starting this Friday, was born.

The conference is open to all, says Levesque, from scholars to students to the general public. And with three First Nation title claims asserted in New Brunswick right now, the discussions are of particular significance.

“These land claims are going to define how our resources, our timber resources, crown lands and minerals and are shared between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples,” says Levesque. “So basically, we’re moving to a new treaty agreement in the Maritimes.”

“What the 1999 Marshall decisions said, is the fact that the historical treaties are still in full force and effect,” explains Levesque, referring to the Peace and Friendship treaties of 1760 and 1761. “We have to adjust our economies, adjust our practices to include them fully,” says Levesque.

Overall, 17 different presenters will speak over the course of the two-day workshop, including Levesque’s two co-editors: Wolastoqey elder, judge, Chancellor of St Thomas University, and former Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick, Graydon Nicholas; and Canada Research Chair in Regional Innovation at the University of Saskatchewan, Dr. Ken Coates.

The workshop kicks off Friday at noon with lunch keynote from Dr. Jane L. McMillan, Donald Marshall Jr.’s former spouse, who was arrested along with him in 1993. Her talk, Najiwsgeig – We Go Fishing, will focus on Marshall as a person and the events that led to the court case and historic decisions.

Friday night features a fisheries reconciliation panel moderated by Grayson Nicholas, and featuring Ken Coates and two representatives from Indigenous and non-Indigenous fisheries groups. Melissa Nevin is director of fisheries and integrated resources with the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs, and Martin Mallet is executive director of the Maritime Fisheries Union.

“They won’t necessarily all agree,” says Levesque. “They may agree on where we need to go, but not necessarily how to get there. And maybe they don’t even agree on where we need to go necessarily, or how fast we need to get there.”

But Levesque says the process of discussing and sharing perspectives is the point of the workshop.

“Especially in New Brunswick right now, First Nations communities and government relations have deteriorated over the past four or five years,” he says, naming a laundry list of actions by the Higgs government that have put relations with First Nations at an all time low, including restrictions on land acknowledgments, refusal to call a public inquiry after the deaths of Rodney Levi and Chantal Moore in 2020, hesitancy to recognize National Truth and Reconciliation Day, and ripping up First Nations tax agreements before they expired.

“We need more positive news here,” says Levesque. “We need to develop some spaces for people to come together to discuss things, to explore the issues.”

Levesque says registration is open to all and available in an online form, and people are also welcome to stop in to any talks they might find interesting over the course of the two days. The conference is active on Instagram and Facebook, and people can also email Mario Levesque with any questions.

Listen to the CHMA story below: