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19/12/1994
Commission Releases Report on the Inquiry Into the Young Chipeewayan Specific Claim
Ottawa (Dec. 19, 1994) - The Indian Claims Commission today released its report of findings and recommendations on the Young Chipeewayan inquiry into the claim to the Stoney Knoll Indian Reserve No. l07. The inquiry was conducted to determine whether the Government of Canada owes any outstanding lawful obligation to the Young Chipeewayan Band.
The claimants alleged that, in 1897, their reserve was taken without a lawful surrender, as required by section 38 of the Indian Act. Further, the Commission was asked to decide if the contemporary claimants are descendants of the Young Chipeewayan Band and, as such, eligible for compensation. The Young Chipeewayan Band was effectively disbanded at the end of the 19th century.
The Commission's review of this claim found these claimants are not a "Band" within the meaning of the Indian Act. The Specific Claims Policy as defined in Outstanding Business does not allow for the validation of this claim brought by these claimants, as they are not a Band.
The Commission also found potential beneficiaries are those bands that can show they absorbed Indians from the historic Young Chipeewayan Band during the late 19th century.
Signatories to the 1992 Saskatchewan Treaty Land Entitlement Agreement that are able to establish a historic shortfall of land, as a result of absorbing former Young Chipeewayan band members, should pursue those claims. If any such bands are not signatory to the 1992 agreement, a separate specific claim, based on treaty land entitlement, may still exist.
To ensure that the provisions of Treaty 6 are honoured, the Commission recommends that issues surrounding the transfer of Young Chipeewayan Band members to the Treaty paylists of other First Nations be explored in detail by Canada and the various First Nations that absorbed members of the Young Chipeewayan Band, on a case by case basis. The review should also include the effects, if any, of the 1992 Treaty Land Entitlement Agreement.
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.
