Crowdfunding launched in Mount Carleton snowmobile fight

TheMaliseetGrand Council has launched acrowdfundingcampaign to help cover legal fees in its fight against the provincial government's plan to build a snowmobile hub in Mount Carleton Provincial Park.

The council, along with the group Friends of Mount Carleton Provincial Park, filed for a judicial review in October 2015, after the government announced a few months earlier it would build afuellingstation and open up 343 kilometres of trails in the province's only wilderness park.

The court date is set for later this month.

RonTremblay, Grand Chief for theMaliseetGrand Council, says the goal of the online plea is to raise $15,000.

As of Sunday afternoon, 14 donations had been made,totallingnearly $12,000.

"If the decision is not in our favour, then there's a possibility that we'll have to pay the time and efforts spent by the province with their lawyers,"Tremblaysaid.

Tremblaysays if the judge rules in his favour, and the council raises $15,000, it may have money left over to launch other court actions against the province over theSissonmine and Energy East pipeline.

The judge may see us as crazy: Tremblay

Tremblaysays the government hasn't consulted enough with theMaliseetGrand Council on the snowmobile hub.

In April, CBC News reported the chiefs of theKingsclear,OromoctoandTobiqueFirst Nations, allMaliseetnations,met with Tourism Minister BillFraserabout plans for the provincial park.

TheMaliseetGrand Council and Friends of Mount Carleton Provincial Park also believe the snowmobile hub shouldn't be allowed without a park management plan and full environmental impact assessment, which haven't been completed.

But the heart of the issue forTremblayis the impact of the proposed development on the land.

"I'm speaking [in court] on behalf of the animals, the plant life, the minerals and waters and the insects are there,"Tremblay.

"Either the judge will see us as crazy, or he or she will understand where we're coming from."

Thecrowdfundingpost says it's a "special appeal to those of you compassionate two-legged creatures, who understand that we are all interconnected in the circle of life and who are sympathetic to preserving our way of life."