Carry the Kettle First Nation [Cypress Hill]

July 2000

The Indian Claims Commission released its report on the Cypress Hills claim in July 2000. The Carry the Kettle Band, whose ancestors are mostly Assiniboine, asserted it had a right under Treaty 4 to land its ancestors selected in the western regions of the Cypress Hills in 1879. This site is near the place where, six years earlier, a number of Assiniboine Indians were slaughtered by drunken wolf hunters from Montana in a dispute over stolen horses – an event which came to be known as "The Cypress Hills Massacre." Every June, members of the Carry the Kettle Band travel from their reserve at Maple Creek to the Cypress Hills, 350 kilometres away, to remember their dead ancestors. Written and oral evidence presented in the course of the Inquiry clearly shows that the federal government recognized the Cypress Hills as the traditional territory of the Assiniboine, but that it did not accept the site selected by the Assiniboine as a reserve. By 1880, the federal government had decided to relocate the Assiniboine and other neighbouring First Nations away from the Cypress Hills to the Maple Creek region, in part to preserve law and order near the international border with the United States. The native people did not want to move, and remained adamant, until officials refused to provide them with rations at the old location. The Commission's review of the facts and the law found that the Carry the Kettle Band does not have a reserve in the Cypress Hills. Under Canadian law, a reserve is not a reserve unless both the First Nation and the government recognize it as such and, the government, having decided to relocate the Assiniboine, clearly did not accept the Band's reserve selection. The Commissioners added, however, that although the transaction was technically legal, it was unfair. The panel made recommendations to allow the government to recognize the Carry the Kettle Band's historic grievances and its connection to the Cypress Hills. The Minister of Indian Affairs responded to the Commission's report in January 2001. He agreed with the Commission's conclusion that the claim did not disclose a lawful obligation on the part of the government under the Specific Claims Policy, and outlined actions undertaken to recognize the Band's connection to the Cypress Hills.

Response: The Government agreed with the Commission's conclusion that the claim did not disclose a lawful obligation on the part of the government under the Specific Claims Policy. The government did reject the Commission's recommendation to restore to the Assiniboine people their connection to the territory.

Download Government Response

Click Here for the Report