Completed Inquiries – Reports Released

01/03/2001

Cowessess First Nation [1907 Surrender] - March 2001

In March 2001, the Commission completed its report on the surrender of land from the Cowessess Reserve in Saskatchewan and recommended that the federal government accept the claim for negotiation. At issue in this claim was a provision of the Indian Act involving the voting procedures at surrender meetings and the factual evidence about how many eligible voters attended the meeting. The records show that at the meeting to surrender land from the Cowessess Reserve on January 29, 1907, 15 voted in favour of the surrender while 14 voted against. There was, however, confusing evidence about how many eligible voters actually attended that meeting.

The Commissioners concluded that the Indian Act required that a majority of eligible voters attending the meeting must agree to the surrender (not merely a majority of those in attendance who voted). Only in this way could a band be protected from exploitative or ill-considered transactions concerning its land base. Upon careful examination of the evidence, the Commissioners also concluded that, at least one eligible voter (Francis Delorme) attended the surrender meeting but abstained from voting. Therefore, on the balance of probabilities, there were at least 30 eligible voters in attendance at the surrender meeting, requiring at least 16 votes in favour to comply with the provisions of the Indian Act.

Response: In March 2002, government rejected recommendation, disagreeing with finding of number of voters present and with interpretation of "majority," but will proceed to phase II of this inquiry as previously agreed upon by the parties.

To download the response from government

To download the report - PDF

Link to summary of Phase II of this inquiry