AFN regional chief for New Brunswick Joanna Bernard says she asked for support safeguarding the environment, and for Charles to go hunting in N.B.Published Jun 02, 2026 • Last updated Jun 02, 2026 • 4 minute readJoanna Bernard says she has personally asked King Charles for his support in safeguarding New Brunswick and Canada’s pristine land and environment amid a massive push to build major projects quickly. SUBMITTEDJoanna Bernard says she has personally asked King Charles for his support in safeguarding New Brunswick and Canada’s pristine land and environment amid a massive push to build major projects quickly.THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERSSubscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.Get exclusive access to the e-Edition, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.Support local journalism and the next generation of journalists.SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLESSubscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.Get exclusive access to the e-Edition, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.Support local journalism and the next generation of journalists.REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLESCreate an account or sign in to keep reading.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite journalists.THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsArticle contentThe Assembly of First Nations regional chief for New Brunswick says she did so on Tuesday, standing inside Buckingham Palace, in what was an historic opportunity.She also invited Charles to go moose hunting back home in the province at his earliest convenience.“It was amazing. It was an honour. I mean, this is historical,” said Bernard, who served for a decade as the chief of Madawaska First Nation near Edmundston in northwestern New Brunswick, and was interim AFN national leader in 2023.“We’ve been trying for a lot of years to get an audience with the King, and you know what, the King is amazing, and he’s not as tall as he looks.”Bernard was part of a delegation of Assembly of First Nations leaders and elders, including AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, who travelled to London, England, for the meeting.Shortly after being elected as the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations in 2023, Woodhouse Nepinak put in a request to Buckingham Palace to speak with King Charles, Bernard said.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.Article contentArticle contentIt has been in the works since then.Assembly of First Nations leadership has met with various British monarchs and members of the Royal Family over the decades to reaffirm the nation-to-nation relationship between First Nations and the Crown.Most recently, in May 2025, Woodhouse Nepinak met with and welcomed Charles, alongside Queen Camilla, to Canada during their official visit to Ottawa.But the trip aboard by the AFN for a formal audience to meet the Sovereign of Canada is an extreme rarity, if it has ever happened at all, Bernard suggested.“We had two minutes each to speak, and he heard us all out,” she said, adding that the five-foot-10-inch monarch, slightly shorter than she thought, listened attentively.“He is a protector of the land and the environment and a vocal advocate in terms of climate change, so I was just really looking for his support to help us through what we’re going through right now in Canada, so his voice is what we were asking for,” Bernard said. “Because we’re concerned all across Canada about all these major projects.Article content“We support them, but we need to also think about the environment and think about climate change and think about what it’s going to do to our lands and waters and the future.She added: “So we want to support the Canadian government, but we’re not going to allow the Canadian government to do what they’ve been doing since the formation of Canada.”Bernard was referencing what is Prime Minister Mark Carney’s push for “nation-building projects” to forge ahead at an expeditious pace.She referenced environmental concerns, but also the place of First Nations in those project decisions. First Nations want to be partners in natural resource development, “either being owners or shareholders,” Bernard said.“Maybe if the King has something to say about them, maybe Carney will step back a bit and reflect.”There were also several light-hearted moments during the meeting, Bernard recounted.She noted that the 1725 Treaty, a foundational agreement between the British Crown and the region’s Indigenous nations, had its 300th anniversary last year, while adding that the 1726 Peace and Friendship Treaty, a foundational agreement signed between the British Crown and the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet, is being celebrated this year.Article contentBernard said she invited King Charles on a hunting trip to New Brunswick to celebrate.“I kind of just said, well, you know, we don’t hunt fox (a lifelong passion of the King), but we have some big game,” she said. “‘I’d like to invite you to a hunting party here in New Brunswick.’“He laughed about that.”Bernard also said she passed along well wishes from her mother, Margaret Bernard, who she said loves the Royal family.“After the meeting, we’re walking out and he says ‘send some greetings from me to your mother,’ so I had to call her right away, of course, and she was ecstatic,” she said.Bernard said she didn’t have time to reference the Wolastoqey’s pursuit of title claim in New Brunswick.Courts have allowed the pursuit of a declaration of title and compensation from provincial and federal Crown lands.However, the New Brunswick Court of Appeal struck down portions of the claim seeking declarations over “fee simple” private property, finding that recognizing Aboriginal title over private lands would be irreconcilable with non-Indigenous property rights.Article contentThe Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear an appeal of the ruling last week, effectively cementing private lands’ exclusion from the title declaration.But Bernard said she was “shocked” that the King brought up, unprovoked, his knowledge and the importance of Ministers Island in New Brunswick’s Passamaquoddy Bay, near the town of Saint Andrews.It’s an island that’s historically significant to the Passamaquoddy people, home to artifacts that show their descendants lived there at least 2,500 years ago. The archaeological remains of four houses, dating back some 1,200 years, and the mound of shells left from generations of shellfish harvesting indicate that this was probably a coastal winter settlement.“As a regional chief, I can bring that back to my chiefs in New Brunswick,” Bernard said.She later added: “I’m just happy to be part of this historic moment.”In a statement, National Chief Woodhouse Nepinak said that, as partners, the Crown and First Nations “have perpetual obligations to uphold under the sacred protocols of Treaty.”She continued, “First Nations leadership again communicated to the King the international status of the Crown-First Nations Treaty relationship.”“No third party can interfere or change the sacred treaty relationship or change how First Nations choose to relate to Canada or to the Crown,” Woodhouse Nepinak said.“We are grateful to His Majesty for the opportunity to meet him.”Article content
New Brunswick chief meets with King Charles at Buckingham Palace
