NB Minister of Justice on Systemic Racism in New Brunswick

On Thursday, July 16, Premier Higgs and other government leaders, including Minister of Justice Andrea Anderson-Mason, attended their second meeting with the First Nations Chiefs to discuss issues of systematic racism in New Brunswick’s policing and justice systems. The in-person meeting was held at the Crowne Plaza in a room that could accommodate everyone safely.

Minister of Justice Anderson-Mason said that it provided a powerful opportunity to “sit, and to listen, and to hear people’s voices as they spoke their concerns for the future” without having to rely on technology. When asked about what she believes the meaningful next steps are to addressing the issues that the First Nations Chief’s brought up, Anderson-Mason said that, “We have a long way to go here in New Brunswick as far as improving access to justice for First Nations” and that she understood “wholeheartedly that it needs to be led by First Nations. Clearly, if I say these are the things we are going to do for First Nations, then it’s me again imposing my way, governments way, on First Nations, so I really welcome the opportunity to welcome First Nations communities to make improvements to a system that clearly does have systemic biases.”

Anderson-Mason stated that there have already been small victories with these collaborations, with the most prominent one being the introduction of the eagle-feather in court proceedings. She said that from now on, “First Nations will have the opportunity to hold an eagle-feather for when giving testimony, and I think that’s a big win for us”. There is, however, a lot of ground to cover, as “we have extreme vacancies in our system”. With no indigenous judges, no indigenous crown prosecutors and only five indigenous community members practising law in New Brunswick, “we need to take a step back and ask why this is happening” and “move forward on putting indigenous court workers into our court system."