(May 14, 2008)

SUDBURY -- An Ontario First Nations group is seeking $550 billion in compensation from the federal government and more than 101,000 hectares of land.

The Whitefish Lake First Nation is seeking the financial compensation for loss of land and the resulting profits from its natural resources.

The land cited in the claim includes a significant amount of Crown land and the entire city of Sudbury, it's neighbouring municipalities and portions of two provincial parks.

"The claim is about compensation for financial losses and for losses of land and loss of the ability to control what takes place on the land," said Aaron Detlor, a Toronto lawyer specializing in First Nations law who is representing the community.

"It's not about displacing anyone or asking the government to expropriate anything from anyone. I think here we've got a positive history of good relationships between all the different communities in the Sudbury region."

'STRENGTHENED'

The community "wants to see that maintained and strengthened," he said.

In 1850, Whitefish Lake First Nation, also known as the Atikameksheng Anishnabek reservation, entered into the Robinson Huron Treaty to set aside a reserve that is more than five times larger than the current reserve, which was set aside in 1885.

The community claims the Crown failed to honour the terms of the 1850 treaty and is seeking financial compensation as well as trying to reclaim the land it lost.

The aboriginal community is trying to identify pieces of Crown land that could be returned to them, and in the process are consulting with local industry and business.

Detlor calls the $550 billion a conservative estimate given the mining industry's $1-trillion impact originating from the Sudbury basin and from land that once belonged to Whitefish Lake.

The compensation also relates to tourism revenues, industrial and commercial development, residential development and resource extraction including timber, minerals and aggregate.