Conseil de Bande de Betsiamites [Highway 138 and the Betsiamites Reserve]

In May 1995, the Betsiamites Band Council submitted a claim to Canada alleging that neither the federal nor the provincial government had obtained a right of way for the construction of a bridge (for what is now Highway 138) on the Betsiamites reserve in the 1950s. Canada rejected this claim in April 1999, and, in June 2000, the Betsiamites Band asked the Commission to conduct an inquiry into the rejection of the claim and another separate claim relating to the construction of a road through the Betsiamites reserve, from the 1910s to the 1950s, and the use of band funds for the construction and maintenance of this road (now Highway 138).

The Band’s request was accepted, and at a March 2001 planning conference the parties agreed on the legal issues in question. They also agreed that a single inquiry process would address the two rejected claims simultaneously but separately. In June 2001, the Commission panel visited the Betsiamites reserve and heard oral testimony from elders there. In August, the Band submitted the written reports of two expert witnesses it wished to have testify. In September 2002, the Commission received the Band’s written submission. After reviewing this submission, Canada requested, in October 2002, that the inquiry be placed in abeyance while it reconsidered its rejection of the Band’s claim. The Band agreed to this request, and Canada, in January 2004, extended an offer to negotiate, which was accepted by the Band. The Commission completed its inquiry into this claim in March 2004.

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