Extension of Mi'kmaq-Nova Scotia forestry partnership could be on the horizon

A pilot forestry project that puts some of Nova Scotia's forest lands in the care of Mi'kmaw communities could be extended by the end of this year.

The Mi'kmaq Forestry Initiative launched in 2019, co-ordinated between the province and the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs.

Over the last four years, the Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq, the Unama'ki Institute of Natural Resources and the Kwilmu'kw Maw-klusaqn, also known as the Mi'kmaq Rights Initiative, have managed 30,000 hectares of Crown land using Mi'kmaw foresty practices.

Lisa Young, the executive director of the Unama'ki Institute, said negotiations to extend the partnership with the province are ongoing, as the end of the pilot project draws near.

"Forestry is a long-term game. Many plans that you develop in forestry are looking 10, 50, 100 years into the future and it takes that long to see the fruit of your labour," Young told CBC Radio's Information Morning Cape Breton.

"If you're trying to reshape what a forest would look like, it'll be a while before you see the results of that, so it's a long game so we're hoping to get a long-term agreement."

 Nova Scotia Minister of Natural Resources and Renewables Tory Rushton said he's been out with the Mi'kmaw groups, and he expects a deal by the end of this year.

"They are the original people of our land, and when I was out, I got to see some of the cultural significance of how they look at the land and how the land can foster for us," he told CBC News on Thursday.

Young said the land they manage is spread throughout the province, with parcels in Hants, Annapolis, Halifax, Antigonish, Guysborough, Cape Breton, Richmond and Inverness counties.

She said the land has been managed using Mi'kmaw principles that recognize the pursuit of economic well-being must be done without jeopardizing the integrity, diversity or productivity of the environment.

"We're letting the land inform our economic opportunities and we're also looking to it in the perspective that we want to manage the lands for other values besides those economic opportunities," she said.

"We want to manage them for community values, whether that be to ensure that they're able to sustain traditional harvesting of medicinal plants or ... managing species at risk, but also species that have cultural significance to community."

Young said she hopes the partnership will be extended, and eventually expanded to include more land.

She said an expansion would allow the groups to provide more education, and inform provincial forestry practices.

"People are looking at trying to find a more sustainable approach and what does that look like and we're saying, 'Well, Indigenous communities have been doing that for hundreds of thousands of years,'" she said.

"You don't need to look far to get that kind of perspective and ideas for how that would be so."

Rushton said he expects similar deals with the Mi'kmaq in the future.

"I'm not going to leave anything off the table. It's been very productive conversations that we've had and I'm excited to carry those on."