The largest land claim settlement in Canada's history has been offered to one of the country's smallest bands -- the Mississaugas of the New Credit.
Canada has offered $145 million to settle two outstanding land claims filed by the band.
The Mississaugas, who once lived in the Toronto area, now occupy a chunk of land near Hagersville and adjacent to the Six Nations reserve.
Band members, schoolchildren and politicians were celebrating the major breakthrough on Monday.
Minister of Indian Affairs Chuck Strahl told the large crowd that the offer is historic.
"You kids will be able to tell people that you were here when history was being made," Strahl told the students of Lloyd S. King Elementary School.
The offer applies to land known as the Brant Tract and the Toronto Purchase.
Now, New Credit band members will have a chance to weigh in on the offer through a series of public meetings.
If the deal is successfully ratified, the cheque could be in the hands of the New Credit natives before the end of the year.
The deal is the largest single specific settlement offer ever made in Canada.
"This is a milestone in our relationship," Strahl said of the negotiations between Canada and New Credit. "It's a signifi- cant breakthrough that you arguably could say stretches back 200 years."
The offer from Canada was actually delayed for a time: New Credit went to the polls in December to elect the band chief and councillors and the government didn't want the offer to be seen as giving Chief Coun. Bryan LaForme, who was the lead negotiator for the band, an unfair advantage.
LaForme, chief councillor since 2001, was re-elected with a healthy margin over his only challenger, Larry Sault.
"This has been a long time coming," said LaForme after the announcement.
"But today's announcement is just the beginning for us. Now the work really starts."
Public meetings, starting on Feb. 1, will lay out the offer for band members and answer all questions possible.
The community will get a chance to vote on whether to accept the offer, how the funds will be handled and an assortment of other issues.
"Everything will be laid out so they can make a good, sound decision," said the chief.
It seems likely that each band member will get a portion of the money with the rest remaining in a trust fund that will be used for future projects like housing, band infrastructure and the creation of jobs.
There are just over 1,800 band members, although only 400 of them live on the New Credit reserve.
In return for a $145-million cheque, the band will have to provide a signed agreement that the claim can never be reopened.
While highly complex, the two land claims involved were straight forward in comparison to some.
There was never any doubt that the Mississaugas surrendered the land, so the natives were always seeking proper compensation as opposed to asking for more land, or hoping to take back the land.
The Brant Tract -3,450 acres of land surrendered by the Mississaugas near Burlington Bay -was paid for, but the natives argued they received far less than what the Crown had promised them.
The Toronto Purchase was a huge area of 250,880 acres and includes most of what is now metropolitan Toronto. In this case, the native argues that Canada took more land than it agreed to originally and only paid the Mississaugas 10 shillings for the extra acreage.
The settlement offer gives hope to surrounding areas that other land claims can be resolved. At the Monday news conference, mayors from other areas affected by land claims seemed delighted by the evidence that a native claim might soon be settled.
"This is wonderful news and it certainly gives us hope for the situation in Brantford," said Mayor Mike Hancock.
But, as the minister pointed out during an exclusive interview with The Expositor, there are some critical differences between Six Nations and New Credit.
"One of the big things is when we come to the Mississaugas of the New Credit," said Strahl, "we have one team from the community sitting across from us. In Six Nations country, you have to have a team that speaks for the community but you also need to be delegated on behalf of the community to take it to the next level."
Strahl said his ministry settled 115 claims last year, which shows that it can get the job done if there's a willing partner on both sides ready to settle.
MP Phil McColeman said he recognized early on that the band was ready to work out an agreement.
"It was obvious that they genuinely were focused on wanting this to succeed as quickly as possible. Kudos to the chief and council," McColeman said.
"This is a great day of correcting an injustice and you've got to feel good for the people of this first nation."
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By the numbers
-The offer from Canada of $145 million works out to $80, 555 for each member of the Mississaugas of the New Credit.
-The governmnet has settled 760 specific land claims with deals that ranged from $15,000 to $125 million.
-The Mississaugas submitted a claim for the TOronto Purchase in 1986 and for the Brant Tract in 1988
-The land in question was bought by Canada in 1797 and 1805.
-The offer of $145 million is compensation for past damages, not reflecting the current value of the land.