Sept. 8, 2007
Winnipeg Free Press
By Aldo Santin
Members of the Peguis First Nation are voting today on a $64.4 million treaty land entitlement package — the second vote on the deal in a little over a year.The package is the result of eight years of negotiations between Peguis and the federal government, to rectify a shortfall in land when the band's reserve was established in 1871.
The bulk of the money — $51.4 million — would be placed in a trust fund to buy 166,000 acres of land the band should have received from Ottawa following the signing of Treaty 1.
"We were supposed to get a certain amount of land based on the band's population (in 1871) but there was a shortfall," band advisor Lloyd Stevenson said.
A similar vote was held August 2006 but the results — 91 per cent in favour — were thrown out when less than 1,700 band members voted, as required by Indian Affairs. This vote requires only the approval of a simple majority of those who actually vote.
Stevenson said almost 4,000 members are eligible to vote, adding voting will occur until 8 p.m. He said results will be released Saturday morning.
Stevenson said Peguis is getting such a large amount of money — the largest treaty land entitlement settlement in the province's history — because there isn't enough crown land available to give to the band.Stevenson said the band will use the land fund to buy property it wants from private landowners, adding that land will then be converted to reserve status.
Stevenson said the treaty land entitlement package is separate from the community's ongoing negotiations with Ottawa over the illegal surrender of the band's first home, the former St. Peter's Reserve in East Selkirk, when it lost 60,000 acres.
Advance voting has already taken place in Peguis and in Selkirk this summer for members who didn't think they'd be available to vote today, Stevenson said, adding there were also mail-in ballots sent to members unable to make their way to Peguis today.
Stevenson said that if band members approve the settlement, the deal must still be formally approved by the province and the Harper government.
Stevenson said the band isn't anticipating any opposition from the Harper government, which has chosen to take a decidedly different route on many Aboriginal issues than the previous Liberal governments, which was in power when the deal was tentatively reached.
"We don't expect any surprises from this new government," Stevenson said. "We've met with the negotiators the Harper government picked and they said there's been no change."
Stevenson said that in addition to the land fund, money from the $64.4 million settlement includes $5 million to reflect unnecessary delays by Ottawa, money that will be used for special projects in the community, like housing, education, health and elderly. Almost $5 million will be used to implement the settlement and another $3 million is to cover legal costs, the negotiation process and the vote. Another $250,000 will be used to finance a land selection study.
The treaty land entitlement process for Manitoba was ratified in 1997. At the time, there were 19 bands with outstanding treaty land claims.The largest previous cash settlement under the program in Manitoba was an $8.5 million cash payment to the Rolling River First Nation in March 1998, the province's first treaty land entitlement agreement. In 1994, before the program was in place, Ottawa settle a treaty land claim with Long Plain First Nation for $16.5 million.