Jamie Sarkonak: New Brunswick’s plan to add an Indigenous tier of justice to the courts

Photo by Brunswick News Archive

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The First Nations of New Brunswick are currently fighting for title to the entire province, but that hasn’t stopped the local legislature from offering up its courts for their use.

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Last week, the N.B. Liberals tabled Bill 50, “An Act Respecting the Enforcement of First Nations Laws and the Prosecution of Offences under First Nations Laws.” It would designate New Brunswick courts as the place to enforce First Nations bylaws.

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The bill would also make a number of smaller changes to achieve enforcement, including extending the jurisdiction of probation officers and the youth corrections scheme to cover First Nations rules, and exempting First Nations enforcement officers from court record copying fees just as peace officers are.

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In a way, the province is trying to treat First Nations as municipalities: courts can enforce municipal bylaws, so why not those of the Indigenous?

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But there is an important difference. Every municipal bylaw exists under the blessing of the province: provinces create municipalities, provinces have full constitutional authority over municipalities, and provinces have the power to curb the bylaws of municipalities. Wonton city councillors, wasteful spending and outrageous bylaws are ultimately the responsibility of the provincial minister in charge of municipal matters — in New Brunswick, that’s Minister of Local Affairs Aaron Kennedy.

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Kennedy has no such authority over what happens in a First Nations reserve, however. Though their character is like that of a municipality, they are creations of the federal government. The feds set the parameters on what First Nations bylaws can regulate, what their penalties can be, how much taxation can occur, etc.

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Seeing to the enforcement of First Nations bylaws is a federal responsibility. Indeed, the Indian Act allows the feds to appoint justices of the peace to deal with these issues. That is, not a real judge, but a person with the authority to decide matters like traffic tickets and bail. Apparently, the feds simply haven’t been doing this: last year, University of Saskatchewan professor Ben Ralston told APTN that the federal government hasn’t appointed any justices of the peace for this purpose since 2003.

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The result is enforcement purgatory. In New Brunswick, Neqotkuk First Nation Chief Ross Perley of the Maliseet/Wolastoqey complained to CBC in 2024 that community banishment rules weren’t being enforced by the RCMP. In January 2026, news reports indicated that the RCMP had a detachment in the chief’s community, but it had been freshly closed because an officer shot and killed someone there. Specifically, the subject of a domestic dispute call had advanced with an edged weapon towards a responding officer and, according to police, a taser was deployed to no avail; after that, an officer shot the man.