The Canadian Press
HALIFAX _ The Nova Scotia government has amended a controversial legal brief that implied members of a First Nation band are a conquered people.
The brief was presented as part of the government’s case against an appeal filed by the Indian Brook band.
The band had asked the court to overturn the province’s approval of a plan by Alton Gas to store natural gas in salt caverns near the Shubenacadie River.
Indian Brook argued the province has a duty to consult.
But the legal brief presented by government lawyer Alex Cameron, who has since been removed from the case, said the Crown’s obligation to consult extended only to “unconquered people.”
It said the band’s submission to the Crown in 1760 negated its claim of sovereignty and negated government’s constitutional duty to consult, a position that sparked outcry from First Nations people and prompted an apology from Premier Stephen McNeil.
The provincial government affirmed in a statement Wednesday that it has a constitutional duty to consult, and it said related arguments raised in the brief have been withdrawn.
