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Home /Media Room /News /James Smith Cree Nation TLE Backgrounder BackgrounderHistorical Background The James Smith reserve (IR 100) straddles the Saskatchewan River, 58 kilometres east of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. The land provided good hunting and fishing and was ideal for the hunter/gatherer economy of the James Smith Band (the present-day James Smith Cree Nation). Various fur-traders set up posts after the mid-1700s and Fort à la Corne was established in the area by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1850. Treaty 6 Indications are that members of the James Smith Band were sufficiently educated and understood the treaty. Band leaders were interviewed in October 1876 to determine where they wanted their land and they requested a reserve near Fort à la Corne. Determining Reserve Boundaries In 1884 the Indian agent visited the reserve and recommended that the trial lines be changed on the north side since it was unfit for cultivation. Later that year the survey was repeated, making the reserve considerably larger with the majority of the additional land south and west. The surveyor felt that the new boundaries were suitable for the band since they provided a combination of good soil and an abundance of fish and game. The reserve was surveyed for the band in July 1884, and IR 100 was confirmed by Order in Council PC1151 on May 17, 1889. It consisted of 27.8 square miles, satisfying the treaty land entitlement for 139 people. Alleged Amalgamation Conclusion Issues 1. Paylist (population) Canada and the James Smith Cree Nation agreed to further paylist analysis and agreed to 155 as the population of the band. The original treaty land entitlements were based on a figure of 139, creating a 16-person shortfall. 2. Quality of Lands Canada did not breach its obligation as it set aside land chosen by the band, including land that supported agricultural use and other portions that supported band members’ desire to continue to fish and hunt. 3. Lands Occupied Prior to the Treaty A band’s treaty land entitlement is a collective right of the band based upon its population and therefore land under cultivation by an individual band member is not relevant to determining nor does it diminish the Band’s treaty land entitlement. No lands should have been excluded from treaty land quantum calculation. Therefore Canada did not breach an obligation regarding lands occupied prior to the treaty. 4. Alleged Amalgamation The Peter Chapman Band was not created at any point prior to the alleged amalgamation of IR 100A. Therefore there could not be a surplus of treaty land. Furthermore, the panel concluded that IR 100A was set aside as a reserve for the whole of the Cumberland Band and not just those members resident at the time of its survey, as determined in ICC’s Cumberland House Cree Nation IR 100A Inquiry. At this time the panel concluded that the “amalgamation” of the James Smith Band and the Peter Chapman Band was invalid, based on all evidence. The James Smith Cree Nation today has more than the sufficient acreage required by Treaty 6. This is the result of the transfer of IR 100A that occurred when the Cumberland Band amalgamated with the James Smith Band. In March 2005, the panel of Commissioners for the inquiry found that the amalgamation of these two bands was invalid. However, IR 100A remains in the possession of the James Smith Cree Nation. In the view of the panel of Commissioners for this inquiry, there is an outstanding obligation owed to the Cumberland House Cree Nation. This obligation includes the 2,048 acres now in the possession of the James Smith Cree Nation. To download the report - PDF
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