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10/09/1999
Indian Claims Commission Recommends Negotiation of Duncan's First Nation Claim
Ottawa (September 10, 1999) - An Indian Claims Commission report released today recommends that the government of Canada negotiate a claim regarding one of seven parcels of reserve land in Alberta's Peace River district surrendered by the Duncan’s First Nation.
The Commission concluded that Canada had failed to act in the First Nation's best interests in the surrender of Indian Reserve (IR) 151E. However, after a thorough review of the historical record, the Commission found that with regard to six parcels of land there was no evidence that the federal government had breached either its fiduciary obligations to the First Nation or the land surrender provisions of the 1927 Indian Act.
"We find that, in this case, the surrender was for a valid public purpose, and although perhaps unwise from the perspective of hindsight, it was considered at the time to be a viable means of protecting the Band's interests. Nevertheless, the Crown breached its fiduciary obligation with regard to IR 151E, not because leasing may have been a viable option in a general sense, but because the Crown failed to present J.B. Early's specific leasing proposal to the Band for its consideration," concludes the report.
Early, a local farmer, had proposed leasing IR 151E, which could have provided Band members with a steady revenue and allowed them to retain their interest in the 118-acre reserve.
In all, nine of the Band's ten reserves, comprising roughly half of the Band's 10,530.9-acre land base, were turned over, or surrendered, to the federal government in 1928 for sale to local farmers and homesteaders. The Band retained one 5,120-acre reserve, IR 151A, and another parcel of the surrendered land - the 960-acre IR 151K - was never sold and was returned to the First Nation in 1965. The federal government has accepted the First Nation's claim with regard to the wrongful surrender of the 160-acre IR 151H. In the present claim, the First Nation argued that the remaining seven parcels were also wrongfully surrendered. After the government rejected the claim in August 1994, the First Nation brought it before the Commission.
The ICC was established in 1991. Its mandate is: to inquire, at the request of a First Nation, into specific claims that have been rejected by the federal government or where the First Nation disputes the compensation criteria being considered in negotiations; and to provide mediation services on consent of the parties at any stage of the claims process.
