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Pasqua First Nation [Flooding claim]

Pasqua IR 79, contains 8,960 hectares and is located 16 kilometres west of Fort Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan. The total band population is 1,678, of whom 524 live on reserve.

Originally part of the Qu’Appelle Valley Indian Development Authority (QVIDA), the Pasqua First Nation was one of a number of First Nations whose lands were lost to recurrent and, in some areas, continuous flooding caused by the construction in the 1940s of a series of water-control structures under the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act. When negotiations between Canada and QVIDA broke down in August 2003, the Pasqua First Nation chose to resume negotiations with Canada on an individual basis. The Commission is at the table as mediator/facilitator.

Within the context of negotiating past damages, the parties were also successful in negotiating interim operation agreements permitting Canada and the Province of Saskatchewan to enter onto First Nation lands to operate the water-control structures up to and including the 2006 season. Work is continuing with respect to identifying, assessing and valuing past damages, particularly completion of the river/lake boundary analysis. Additional loss-of-use studies have been delayed because they need acreage data to be determined by the river/lake boundary analysis.