The Canadian government is responsible for fulfilling outstanding First Nations land claims, but each western province has taken
its own approach to settling those claims and plays
an active role in the negotiations.
The provinces are required to participate because they control their own crown lands and resources. While the pace of claim settlement was slow until
the 1990s, it has since picked up.
British Columbia
British Columbia held the distinction of having more outstanding comprehensive land claims than the rest of Canada in total. That’s because treaties never covered most of the province; Treaty 8 covered only a small area in the north.
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In the early 1990s, Ottawa approved a task force recommendation that resulted in the B.C. Treaty Commission, an independent body that is now negotiating modern treaties with about two-thirds
of the province’s First Nations.
Negotiation takes place at a “table” and 57 First Nations are now negotiating at 46 tables.
Negotiations proceed through different stages
until the final agreement is signed. Six First Nations are at the final stage and 41 are at Stage 4, or the agreement-in-principle stage.
When this process started, only the Nisga’a
Tribal Council was in active negotiation.
Alberta
In Alberta, 11 treaty land entitlement claims have been settled since 1986.
Most of these have occurred in the north, outside the province’s main farming region.
Alberta Beef Producers says it doesn’t consider land claims to be an issue. None of its members has brought forward a concern or a dispute involving a claim on farmland or grazing land.
Unlike Saskatchewan’s decision to set out the terms of TLE claims through a framework agreement, Alberta negotiates with each band to fulfill commitments made under Treaties 6, 7 and 8. Those treaties provide for 128 acres per person.
There are 44 bands in the province. Not all have entitlement claims; many have specific claims.
Manitoba
Between 1994 and 1997, Manitoba, Ottawa and
28 bands reached agreement on how to address entitlement claims. Among the First Nations, 21 chose a TLE framework agreement and seven negotiated individual settlements.
In total, 1.3 million acres will gain reserve status. The province intends to provide slightly more than one million acres through unoccupied crown land. Private landowners would provide the remainder.
Jeff Eyamie, acting director of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada’s Manitoba region, said the willing buyer, willing seller approach applies to private land.
“It would be a misperception to believe that a First Nation could simply ‘pick’ a piece of land which happens to be privately held,” he said.
So far, about 700,000 acres have been selected and the claims are proceeding through the various stages that lead to ownership and reserve status.
