Treaty rights on clearcutting allegedly overstepped
Clear-cutting is impacting the traditional First Nations way of life in west central Saskatchewan.
Activist Sylvia McAdam Saysewahum, who has been camped out on her family’s traditional hunting lands near Leoville, said “It’s like a land grab up here, and it’s a frenzy.”
Many patches of landscape have been stripped completely bare of trees and shrubs along Highway 943 and large piles of dirt and unusable wood have replaced the lush Boreal Forest.
Saysewahum accused Big River First Nation, the provincial government and the logging companies involved of infringing upon treaty land rights.