march 2009 issue
|
Aboriginal Awareness
Reserves and More
For more than a century, unfulfilled obligations in their treaties left many First Nations without land they were entitled to. A process begun some 34 years ago is addressing the problem, and that means their land holdings on and off reserves continue to grow
Editor’s Note: The following is the 11th installment in our series of columns designed to improve awareness of Aboriginal issues. These articles stem from an APEGGA goal to increase Aboriginal representation in the engineering, geological and geophysical professions. Check The PEGG Online for earlier columns in the series.
BY Robert Laboucane
President, Ripple Effects Ltd.
Prior to the arrival of Europeans in North America, many hundreds of First Nations had distinct and mutually respected territories. The situation wasn’t always that way, however.
Throughout the course of much of these First Nations’ histories, disputes persisted. Overlapping claims and tribal rivalries often led to conflict and war.
Treaties between nations became a critical tool in creating peace. That’s right — treaties were here before the colonists.
Territories became more clearly defined and relationships improved. Many treaties were signed between the various groups. These prompted military alliances, inter-tribal trade and inter-tribal marriages, all of which further solidified mutual respect.
The boundaries of each tribe’s traditional territories were in most cases acknowledged and respected, and this recognition continues today.
Making Treaty With the British
By the middle of the 1800s, the British Crown was actively continuing the process of negotiating and making treaty with First Nations. There are 11 historical treaties and hundreds of others covering 80 per cent of Canada today. The last treaty was signed in 1921 in the Northwest Territories, although it was never implemented.
In the 1850s some 14 treaties were signed on the southern tip of Vancouver Island alone, called the Douglas Treaties. Most of British Columbia, Quebec and Labrador, however, have never been covered by treaty with the colonists, leaving the local First Nations with original Aboriginal title as defined by the Supreme Court of Canada.
Treaty 6 is one of the treaties particularly relevant to many PEGG readers. It was signed in 1876 and covers some 313,900 square kilometres of lands, extending east from the Rocky Mountains almost to the Saskatchewan/Manitoba border.
Today there are 17 separate and distinct First Nations within this Treaty 6 area, representing the Cree, Saulteaux, Dene, Nakota and other groups of nations.
Across these vast lands, these various tribes had staked out their traditional territories with the acceptance and support of the other tribes in the region. It was a robust and prosperous area. Trade and commerce flourished, languages and cultures were strong, and political governance, traditional values and mutual respect were well established.
 |
A TREATY PORTRAYED |
A Reasonable Option
But change came with the new settlers in the traditional territories that Treaty 6 would eventually cover. By the late 1800s, the buffalo had been virtually wiped out. Diseases were rampant among the Aboriginal peoples. Making treaty seemed the only way to ensure tribal survival.
With the signing of Treaty 6, the government allocated 160 acres of land to each person of a tribe, based on the population count at the time. This created a reserve for them to reside on within their established traditional territory.
For example, if a First Nation identified 406 band members, it would have a reserve surveyed at about 65,000 acres — 406 times 160.
All those people would then move onto the designated land and set up their homes and family groups. Later on, a roaming hunting party made up of this tribe’s people arrived and also settled on the land reserved for this particular tribe.
They were also entitled to receive 160 acres each, but they hadn’t been included in the original count. I think you can see where this is going.
Say there were 76 band members absent when the count was made and therefore left out of the land allocation. They approached the local government representative known as the Indian Agent, explaining the discrepancy and seeking additional lands of another 12,000 acres or so.
These recently returned hunters were told their claim was justified and that the land would be set aside for them in due course. In the meantime, they should go and settle in with their families and the government would get around to it soon.
Where’s That Land?
Well, 120 years later those 76 extra members of the population had now increased to 1,500. By this time peoples of our First Nations were Canadian citizens and allowed by law to hire lawyers.
A claim was put forward on behalf of the 1,500 people, seeking 160 acres. That amounted to 240,000 acres of land they felt was owed them.
The Supreme Court of Canada rejected the claim. But the original request for 12,000 extra acres was accepted and agreed to by the federal government and the courts. So the hunt was on for unencumbered Crown land suitable for resolving the claim.
The government identified 5,000 acres near the original reserve, which they converted to make part of the reserve land base.
This left 7,000 acres still owed to the First Nation. It seems the only other land available was located in other tribes’ traditional territories and was therefore unacceptable to the First Nation. How could one tribe in clear conscience simply take over land located in another’s traditional territories?
Process Created
As a result, the federal government determined the cost of land in current dollars and somehow developed a formula to compensate for “loss of use.” The government allocated the appropriate amount of money to the First Nation.
This process is called Treaty Land Entitlement. As my example shows, it is aimed at resolving outstanding obligations to those First Nations that did not receive all the reserve land to which they were entitled. The process has been on-going for some 34 years now.
Under the process, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba transfer unoccupied or otherwise unencumbered lands and minerals back to the federal government so Canada can fulfill its treaty obligations to First Nations.
Whenever adequate or acceptable lands are not available, the federal government gives money to the tribes to purchase the lands they’re owed.
A few years ago a group of about 28 First Nations in Saskatchewan received the equivalent of $450 million to settle their outstanding Treaty Land Entitlement claims. In fact the process carries on in many other parts of Canada, adding many hundreds of millions of dollars to First Nations’ land buying power and including, whenever it’s available, allocations of actual land.
Some of the new land is converted to reserve status, some is covered by fee-simple title. When land becomes reserve, the First Nation also gets its mineral rights.
Understandably, industries involved in the natural resources exploration and development are expressing great interest in partnerships with First Nation landowners.
There are no taxes on reserve land. But on fee-simple land, First Nations pay land taxes, just like any other owner would.
Land ownership by First Nations is all around us. Their properties include industrial parks within numerous cities and municipalities. Their land covers commercial properties and farmland. It is in reserves and off reserves.
Many thoughts and labels — negative and positive — come to mind when we think of First Nations in Canada. Maybe we need to add “major landowner” to our understanding.
|