About two hundred people rallied outside a Shale Gas Forum on June 23rd at the Fredericton Inn. The forum, organized by the provincial government, was criticized for being closed to the public and for occurring at the same time as a provincial wetlands forum. Natural Resources Minister Bruce Northrup unveiled regulations for the shale gas industry that day. Northrup maintains that the government will not be banning shale gas. The group chanted, “No Means No” and a half dozen people disrupted the forum including Susan Levi-Peters, the former Chief of Elsipogtog. Levi-Peters drew applause from some of the shale gas forum participants when she said that she is “very disappointed that there is no Mi’kmaq representation here… Nobody is sitting here representing us when you are talking about our land, our children and our children yet to come. None of this is going to happen without us agreeing to it and we do not agree to it today.”
