Completed Mediations – Reports Released

01/12/2005

Qu'Appelle Valley Indian Development Authority [Flooding Negotiations]

December 2005

Between 1888 and 1961, the federal and provincial governments built or financed four major dams and 150 smaller ones on the Qu’Appelle River system in Saskatchewan, thereby flooding and degrading over 14,000 acres of land. The lands were lost through recurrent and, in some areas, continuous flooding attributed to water-storage projects constructed under the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act. At issue to the First Nation communities involved in this claim is damage caused by the construction, in the 1940s, of eight water-control structures along the Qu’Appelle River.

The Qu’Appelle Valley Indian Development Authority (QVIDA) is a group of Saskatchewan First Nations pursuing claims against Canada for this flooding of their reserve lands. The claim was accepted for negotiation in 1999, and the Commission became involved as mediator-facilitator for the table in early 2000. At that point, QVIDA member First Nations included the Muscowpetung, Pasqua, Cowessess, Sakimay, and Ochapowace First Nations. The Piapot and Kahkewistahaw First Nations were also members, active to varying degrees in the negotiations between Canada and QVIDA, though they had not yet had their flooding claims accepted for negotiation.

From the beginning, negotiations were tumultuous. The complexity of the issues, the number of participants, and the changes in negotiating team members presented many challenges to the negotiating process. As a result, negotiations stalled at various points on important issues. At this time last year, land surveys and loss-of-use studies were under way, with negotiation meetings being postponed until study results were in.

Negotiations between QVIDA and Canada broke down in August 2003. The Commission has closed its file on the QVIDA negotiations and will issue a mediation report in 2004–2005. The Commission remains involved, however, with two First Nations who chose to break with QVIDA for the purpose of undertaking negotiations directly with Canada. The Commission is acting as mediator-facilitator at both of these negotiation tables. For more information on the progress of these claim negotiations, see the summaries of the Muscowpetung First Nation flooding claim and Pasqua First Nation flooding claim above.

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