15 First Nations. Wolastoqey (Maliseet), Mi'kmaq, and Peskotomuhkati peoples. Peace and Friendship Treaties. Wolastoqey title claim covering 60% of the province. Irving logging on unceded territory.
In 2021, six Wolastoqey nations filed an Aboriginal title claim covering approximately 60% of New Brunswick â the entire St. John River watershed (Wolastoq). This is the largest land title claim in Atlantic Canada. The Peace and Friendship Treaties (1725â1779) never ceded Wolastoqey land â they established peace and trade agreements. The Wolastoqey never surrendered title. New Brunswick was built on unceded territory.
Meanwhile, J.D. Irving Limited holds Crown licences to log vast areas of this unceded territory. Irving is the largest private landowner in New Brunswick and the largest Crown licensee. The forestry operations occur on land that the Wolastoqey never ceded and never consented to have logged. The economic structure of the province is built on Indigenous land managed for the benefit of a single corporate family.
Indigenous communities in New Brunswick have among the lowest median incomes in the country. Reserve economies are limited. Resource extraction (forestry, mining) on unceded territory generates revenue for the province and for Irving â not for the Wolastoqey or Mi'kmaq. The Elsipogtog First Nation's opposition to fracking (2013) was met with RCMP raids â the community was defending its water on its own land. Economic self-determination for Indigenous peoples in New Brunswick is structurally blocked by the Irving-Crown forestry complex.
New Brunswick scores 34.2 â an F+. The province is built on unceded Wolastoqey and Mi'kmaq territory, and its largest industry (Irving forestry) operates on that unceded land without Indigenous consent or meaningful benefit-sharing. The Wolastoqey title claim will define the province's future relationship with Indigenous peoples. How New Brunswick responds â whether with litigation or negotiation, confrontation or partnership â will determine whether reconciliation is possible or whether the province simply defends the Irving status quo.
"They never bought our land. They never conquered it. They just started logging it and called it Crown land."