Completed Inquiries – Reports Released
01/07/2003
Canupawakpa Dakota First Nation [Turtle Mountain Surrender] - July 2003
The Canupawakpa Dakota First Nation submitted a claim in 1993 to Canada relating to the surrender of Turtle Mountain reserve IR 60 on behalf of all descendants of the Turtle Mountain Band. After agreeing to conduct an inquiry into the rejected claim in May 2000, the Commission, with the parties’ agreement, permitted the Sioux Valley Dakota First Nation to participate in the claim. The inquiry involved allegations of coercion, undue influence by Crown officials, and non-compliance with the Indian Act in respect of the 1909 surrender of Turtle Mountain reserve. The claim turned on the question of whether one of the five remaining voting members of the Band in 1909 was habitually resident on the reserve at the time of the surrender vote. The Commission found that he was habitually resident and that his vote in favour of surrender was therefore valid. As a result, the three-to-two vote to surrender was also valid under the Act. The Commission also found that the band members were told and understood the consequences of a surrender – that they would be giving up their rights to Turtle Mountain forever, that they would relocate to other Sioux communities, and that they would receive the proceeds of sale of the reserve. The final decision by the band members to surrender was taken without haste and with full opportunity to discuss it among themselves and with the Indian Agent. Although the Crown wanted a surrender for political and practical reasons, there was insufficient evidence to conclude that officials engaged in coercion or systematic depopulation to effect that result. On the contrary, the evidence showed that the Crown conducted itself as a reasonable and prudent trustee. Moreover, this was a situation in which, from the perspective of the majority of voting band members, the decision to surrender was in their best interests. The Commission was not prepared in these circumstances to undo the autonomy of the Band to determine its future. Under its supplementary mandate, the Commission can make recommendations in cases in which the Crown complied with its lawful obligations, but the outcome was nevertheless unfair. In recognition of thehistorical connection between the Dakota Sioux people and Turtle Mountain and on the basis of written evidence that the Crown had promised to protect certain burial sites at IR 60 in the event of a surrender but had failed to do so, the Commission recommended that Canada and the First Nations work together to acquire and properly designate these burial sites. Response: Government acknowledged report in October 2003. To download the report - PDF 
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