Kenneth Francis knew about the smoke billowing from the Rexton blockade in eastern New Brunswick, the RCMP cars set ablaze, elders pepper-sprayed and protesters hauled away in handcuffs.

When Francis learned the police had slapped restraints on Elsipogtog Chief Arren Sock, he knew something else: the next big fight for the Mi’kmaq would not be at the roadside.

Francis and the Elsipogtog First Nation would have to go to court.

The legal assertion of Aboriginal title — title the Mi’kmaq First Nation believes it never relinquished — began taking shape that day.

“We never really used to take ourselves seriously,” Francis said as he wandered recently around the stretch of highway once crowded with protesters, about 14 kilometres from the Elsipogtog reserve in eastern New Brunswick.

“After the blockade — the feeling of empowerment that we got from it, the co-operation we were getting from our allies, is that this can be done, that we can do this. You say, ‘Oh my goodness we can do this.’”