Completed Inquiries – Reports Released

01/03/2000

Walpole Island [Île Boblo] - Mars 2000

March 2000

The Indian Claims Commission (ICC) released its report on the Boblo Island claim in May 2000, recommending that the Walpole Island First Nation submit a claim through the federal Comprehensive Claims Policy to clarify title to the island.

Boblo Island is a small island (about 200 acres) in the Detroit River near the town of Amherstberg, Ontario. The Walpole claim hinges on two transactions: a 1786 agreement signed by some Ottawa and Chippewa Chiefs who lived in the vicinity purporting to transfer the island and a seven-squaremile block of land on the mainland to the deputy Indian Agent, Alexander McKee, and a 1790 treaty between the colonial government and 35 Chiefs, including the ancestors of the Walpole Island First Nation.

The Commission found that the 1786 transaction was not a valid surrender because it did not follow the guidelines for taking Indian lands as set out in the Royal Proclamation of 1763. In particular, there was no public meeting, no record of payment and the Potawatomi and Huron Nations who used the territory and may have had an interest in the island, were not involved in the transaction.

The treaty signed in 1790 with the Ottawa, Chippewa, Potawatomi and Huron Nations involved a large area on the mainland, including the seven-square-mile block mentioned in the 1786 agreement. Boblo Island, however, is not included in the description of land included in the 1790 treaty. Co-Chair Bellegarde summed up the findings by stating: "Our inquiry found that whatever aboriginal title to Boblo Island existed in 1786, still exists today."

The government has acknowledged receipt of the Commission's report, but has not responded to its recommendations.

Response: No substantive response required from government.

Click Here for the Report