First Nation files lawsuit demanding Aboriginal title over lands in western Quebec

MONTREAL - An Algonquin First Nation has filed a title claim in Quebec Superior Court over large swaths of territory across the west of the province in an effort to address what it described as historic injustices against its peoples.

Jean-Guy Whiteduck, chief of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation, says his people need to have a say in the way water, wildlife and forestry are managed in their traditional territory. He said that meaningful reconciliation can't exist until that happens.

“Quebec refuses to recognize that Aboriginal people, traditional people, have any rights outside of reserve territory, except for basically subsistence fishing and hunting,” Whiteduck said in an interview, speaking from the First Nation located on the shores of the Gatineau River, near Maniwaki, Que.