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22/12/2005

ICC Issues Report on QVIDA Flooding Negotiations Claim

Ottawa (December 22, 2005)—The Indian Claims Commission (ICC) today issued a mediation report on “complex and complicated” claims by a number of First Nations in southern Saskatchewan’s Qu’Appelle River valley.

The claims involve flooding damage to the reserve lands of the eight First Nations who formed the Qu’Appelle Valley Indian Development Authority (QVIDA) in 1979 to represent their interests. The member First Nations include Muscowpetung, Pasqua, Piapot, Cowessess, Kahkewistahaw, Ochapowace, Sakimay and Standing Buffalo. Each is affected differently by several separate irrigation and water storage reservoirs—the first of which was a water control structure built on Echo Lake in 1942 by the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA)—to bring relief to the dry, soil-eroded areas and find ways to conserve surface water supplies for irrigation and other uses.

Following several years of dissatisfaction and representations to the federal government, which culminated in Specific Claims Branch’s closing of the file in 1992, QVIDA asked the ICC to conduct an inquiry on the flooding claims on the grounds that closure of the file constituted constructive rejection of the claim. In February 1998, the ICC found that Canada owed six of the eight First Nations an outstanding lawful obligation. In November 1998, Canada accepted the claims for negotiation.

At the request of the parties, ICC provided mediation services to the negotiating table. Little progress was made and in 2003, the ICC proposed shuttle mediation to advance the talks. In this process the mediator meets separately with each party, so that direct communication is with the mediator only. The parties remain in separate rooms and the mediator relays information to each of them.

In August 2003, Canada gave notice that it was ending negotiations with QVIDA, saying that it was prepared to negotiate with individual First Nations with accepted claims. As Chief Commissioner, Renée Dupuis, points out in the report, “One of the roadblocks to progress in these negotiations was the fact that the table was mandated to deal with both past and present damages as well as issues relating to the current and continued operation of the control structures.”

In its conclusions, the report notes that two more important reasons why negotiations ultimately failed to produce a settlement were the large number of people at the table—an average of 40 participants at each meeting— and the fact that some participants were not familiar with Specific Claims policy, the Indian Act and other provincial legislative authorities. Three of the First Nations that once were part of the QVIDA table are now in separate negotiations with Canada.

The Indian Claims Commission was established in 1991. Its mandate is: to inquire, at the request of a First Nation, into specific land claims that have been rejected by the federal government, or accepted claims where the First Nation disputes the compensation criteria being considered in negotiations; and to provide mediation services at the request of the parties for claims in negotiation. Since 1991, the ICC has completed 65 inquiries and contributed mediation services in 42 claims processes.

To download the report  - PDF