Completed Inquiries – Reports Released

01/09/1999

Duncan's First Nation [1928 Surrender] – September 1999

In September 1999, the Commission released its report recommending that the federal government negotiate the Duncan’s First Nation claim regarding one of seven parcels of reserve land in Alberta’s Peace River district surrendered in 1928.

The First Nation argued that the surrenders of Indian Reserves (IR) 151 and 151B to151G in 1928 are null and void because they were taken by the government in violation of the 1927 Indian Act. After the government rejected the claim in August 1994, the First Nation brought it before the Commission. (The First Nation’s original submission included IR 151H, but this claim was accepted by the federal government in May 1997.)

The Commission concluded that the government failed to act in the First Nation’s best interests in the surrender of IR 151E, but that there was no evidence it had breached either its fiduciary obligations to the First Nation or the land surrender provisions of the Indian Act regarding the remaining six parcels of land. Commissioners concluded that the six parcels of land had been surrendered and put up for sale for a valid public purpose. At the time, government representatives believed the land sales were in the First Nation’s best interests. Commissioners found, however, that in the surrender of IR 151E, the government breached its fiduciary obligation to the First Nation because it did not inform the Band of a proposal by a local farmer, J.B. Early, to lease the reserve land. At the time, IR 151E was unused and the lease could have provided band members with steady revenue and allowed them to retain their interest in the 118-acre reserve.

Response: In June 2001, government rejected recommendation regarding IR 151E made in September 1999 report, stating: "[T]he Commission did not examine the terms of the proposed lease and, as a result, made no finding that the 1923 lease proposal was either more or less advantageous to the First Nation than a surrender."

To download the government's response - PDF

To download the report - PDF