By John Chilibeck Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Six Wolastoqey chiefs are blasting the Higgs Progressive Conservative government for centralizing power and vetting their requests through lawyers. In an open letter published Friday, the chiefs whose communities hug the St. John River or Wolastoq, as they prefer to call it, expressed frustration with recent statements made by two provincial ministers. They called out Gary Crossman, the environment minister, who claimed during a recent legislative committee hearing that Premier Blaine Higgs had been having weekly meetings with First Nations chiefs in New Brunswick. Crossman’s assertion turned out to be incorrect. They also expressed exasperation that Arlene Dunn, the aboriginal affairs minister, keeps defending her government’s decision to centralize First Nations requests through her department, rather than letting different departments speak directly to…
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