Rexton, New Brunswick – October 7th, Royal Proclamation Day, saw hundreds gather at the ongoing anti-shale gas blockade of highway 134 in Rexton, New Brunswick where an Irving-owned compound, containing numerous pieces of seismic testing equipment sub-contracted by SWN Resources Canada – including five seismic testing trucks, or 'thumpers' – remains under activist control.

Under inclement skies, and the shadows of a court-ordered injunction and ongoing shale gas negotiations involving Elsipogtog Chief Arren Sock and Premier David Alward of New Brunswick, yesterday's gathering was an attempt at soldiering on against shale gas. A stage was quickly erected; children prepared and read letters in opposition to shale gas; and food was served to over 300 people.

While invitations to attend the Proclamation Day gathering went out to 47 regional Indian Act chiefs, in the end it was only chief Leroy Denny of Eskazoni First Nation who arrived late into the evening.

On the other hand, one of the key voices of a new generation of leaders was on the scene. Nina Was'te (Wilson), one of the co-founders of the Idle No More movement, has been the guest of the encampment for the last several days.

Was'te, impressed with the degree of cross-cultural unity within the encampment, was adamant that it is up to this generation to bridge the historical gaps and traumas that divide us, else that heady task fall upon our children's shoulders.

“We have to get through those uncomfortable parts. Those parts that make people afraid to be around one another,” said Was'te. “The historical traumas really need to be looked at. Before you can become an ally you have to recognize and accept how you were a participant in being a colonizer.

“I think it's going to be messy. It isn't going to be pleasant. But it has to happen. If we don't do this now then we leave that for all these little children here. They'l be faced with that. So the sooner we get through this, the better it will be for them.”

One of those 'uncomfortable parts' within the encampment is related to how to proceed against shale gas development in New Brunswick. Local allies in Kent County, who have gone far to become cognisant of the inherent rights of the First Nations peoples to their unceded territories, have essentially put faith in their Indigenous counterparts to steer the process.

Yet the method of how to expel the shale gas companies who have now divvied up a significant portion of New Brunswick into exploratory leases remains in question. Whether the power lies within the Indian Act, and the chiefs who represent their respective First Nation communities, or within the covenant chain of treaties – treaties of peace and friendship that never ceded territory – remains to be seen.

Nina Was'te, for her part, envisions using the Indian Act to move beyond the Indian Act.

“I really think that the Indian Act has done so much damage to our people,” said Was'te. “I know that people get afraid when I speak like that. But I don't want to see that Indian Act dictating our lives when my grandchildren are grandparents. I hope and I pray that we can find ways that we can reassert our own traditional governance.

“I don't see reconciliation in the Indian Act. I don't see it at all. But I do know that we can't just throw it away. We have to work towards that. There's too many things in it that imply protection. Like the treaty or full sovereignty if you want to call it that. So we need to use it to our best advantage for now.”

However the scenario plays out, be it through negotiations with the Premier or on-the-ground action – or both – the imminent threat to the environment due to hydraulic fracturing, or 'fracking', appears as the common bond uniting a variety of different cultures and approaches.

“It's hell” says Was'te of fracking. “If you're looking to kill yourself that's one way to do it. The [companies] don't even tell you what's in there. So if you don't know what's in there, how can you get treatment for it? It could contaminate so many aquifers that lead to different communities. It's just a big mess that needs to be exposed for what it is, [which is] economically-based suicide.”