Beaver Lake Cree Nation celebrates victory at Supreme court in funding case – APTN News
Mar 22, 2022
A First Nation in Alberta that is fighting what it calls overdevelopment of its traditional territory has been given a second chance to convince the courts that governments should advance money for its legal bills so it can spend the revenues it has on social needs.
Beaver Lake Cree Nation filed the lawsuit against the federal and Alberta governments in 2008, arguing the Crown had allowed so much development on the band’s traditional lands that it was impossible to exercise treaty rights or to live a Cree life.
“There are multiple places we can no longer go to,” said band spokeswoman Crystal Lameman. “There are multiple examples of roads that are no longer accessible, trails that are no longer accessible, by way of lease pads or no trespassing signs put up by industry.
“There are species of medicines and flora and fauna that we can no longer find.”
