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Backgrounder

Following the signing of Treaty 8 in 1899, land was reserved for the Duncan's First Nation in 1905, in part to protect the land from non-aboriginal settlers and from prospectors on their way to Yukon gold fields.

Pressure to surrender reserve lands belonging to the First Nation and other bands in the Lesser Slave Lake Agency began after World War I. The federal government sought farm lands for returning soldiers while local politicians and farmers from across western Canada endeavoured to open up new areas for development as lands in more southerly regions became scarce. However, the Commission's review of the historical record found that, at first, Indian Affairs officials did not seek a land surrender from the First Nation.

"It seems strange to me that the Indians should be called upon to surrender lands in that district at this early date, as there must be large areas of dominion lands available. As the district is very thinly settled, personally I do not think that we should attempt to get these lands surrendered until such time as other available lands in the district are exhausted," wrote Indian Commissioner William M. Graham in 1919.

As a result of the influenza epidemic of 1918-19, local settlers perceived that the population of the Duncan's Band had been significantly reduced. Moreover, Band members, who generally followed traditional pursuits of hunting and trapping, did not farm the land. Demand for the reserve lands mounted as more settlers moved to the Peace River region and free land for homesteading was taken up. Between 1922-27, farmers and local politicians continued to seek the surrender of Indian land in the region.

The Peace River Board of Trade, for example, wrote to Indian Affairs to urge that Indian land be opened for settlement: "If possible these valuable areas should be made available for agricultural purposes as the existence of so much unoccupied land has a decided tendency to retard the progress and general development of the country."

By 1927, Indian Affairs was prepared to pursue the surrender of a portion of the Band's reserve lands provided the Band was in agreement. In a September 1928 surrender vote, eligible Band members agreed to cede seven of the Band's ten parcels of reserve land - Indian Reserves 151 and 151B through 151G - to the federal government for sale to homesteaders and local farmers. The present claim relates to these seven parcels of land.

Two other parcels - IR 151H and 151K, which were apparently allocated to individual Band members rather than to the Band as a whole - were also surrendered. Indian Reserve 151K never sold and was returned to the First Nation in 1965, and the federal government has accepted the First Nation's claim with regard to the wrongful surrender of IR 151H. The Band retained its remaining reserve - the 5,120-acre IR 151A, which was the largest of the ten parcels.

According to the Indian Act of the day, a surrender was valid when it was approved by a majority of the male band members over 21 years of age at a public meeting called for that purpose. After a thorough review of the historical record, including treaty pay lists, the surrender voting list, and related documentation, the Commission found that the statute's surrender requirements were satisfied in relation to six of the seven disputed parcels of reserve land. It also concluded that Canada did not breach any of its fiduciary obligations to the Band arising from the surrender of these six parcels.

With regard to the remaining disputed parcel, IR 151E, the Commission found that the federal government failed in its fiduciary obligation to inform the First Nation of a leasing arrangement proposed by local farmer J.B. Early that might have benefitted the First Nation. In this instance, the Commission recommends negotiation of a final settlement.