Siksika Nation [Castle Mountain claim]

The Siksika First Nation (formerly known as the Blackfoot Band) has a reserve of 70,985 hectares located 80 kilometres east of Calgary, Alberta. It has a total registered population of 6,035, with about 3,400 of that number living on the reserve.

This claim relates to an area of about 68 square kilometres of land at Castle Mountain (located between Banff and Lake Louise) that was surveyed as a timber limit for the Blackfoot people in 1892. The Department of Indians Affairs later concluded that a timber limit in a different location would be preferable, and in November 1908, it returned the land to the Department of the Interior. No replacement timber limit was ever selected for Siksika.

In 1982, Siksika submitted the Castle Mountain specific claim to Canada, and it was partially accepted for negotiation in 1985. In 1993, Canada rescinded its 1985 acceptance of the claim and accepted it on the basis that Canada "has a lawful obligation within the meaning of the Specific Claims Policy to set aside a timber limit as a reserve for the use and benefit of the Siksika Nation."

The ICC came to the negotiation table in mid-2005 as study coordinator, acting as liaison between the negotiating parties and independent consultants hired to complete research and loss-of-use studies. Terms of reference for the studies were developed, proposals solicited and consultants chosen to work on the various studies, including a consolidated land-use study, resource harvesting, mines and minerals, land appraisals, forestry and other land development including tourism and recreation. By year’s end, the consultants had begun their work and Elder interviews had been held.