Completed Inquiries – Reports Released
01/12/1995
Homalco Indian Band [Aupe Indian Reserves 6 and 6A] - December 1995
The Homalco Indian Band claimed that inadequate lands were provided for them at Aupe IR 6 and 6A, located in the Bute Inlet area of British Columbia's Pacific Coast. The three main issues in the inquiry were as follows: 1) Did Canada breach a lawful obligation in the allotment process for IR 6? 2) Did Canada have an obligation to acquire 80 additional acres of reserve land when requested by the Band in 1907? If so, did Canada breach that obligation? 3) Did Canada have an obligation to protect the Band's settlement lands from a pre-emption claim? If so, did Canada breach that obligation? The Commission concluded that: 1) The discrepancy in acreage was handled unprofessionally, and that the extent of the discrepancy in the allotment of land should have been investigated and resolved by the Crown. 2) Although Canada breached its statutory obligations with respect to the allotment of reserve lands, Canada was not under a statutory, constitutional or fiduciary obligation to acquire additional acres of reserve land as requested by the Band in 1907. 3) The false declarations made by the schoolteacher employed by the Department of Indian Affairs in his application to pre-empt the lands within the Band's settlement constitutes fraud, as the acquisition of Indian land by an employee of the federal government. Canada had a duty to protect the Band's lands, and it breached that duty. Had the Crown fulfilled its duty, the Band would have received an additional 9.62 acres. In its report of December 14, 1995, the Commission recommended that the claim of the Homalco Indian Band with respect to 9.62 acres of land be accepted for negotiation under Canada's Specific Claims Policy. Response: In December 1997, government rejected recommendation, stating that, as the lands were not alleged to be reserve lands, the Policy does not apply, and that Canada does not "recognize a general duty to protect traditional Indian lands (as distinct from reserve lands) from the actions of others." To download the government's response - PDF  To download the report - PDF
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