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08/09/2002

Acceptance of Coldwater-Narrows Claim for Negotiation Underlines Importance of ICC Role in Specific Land Claims Process

Ottawa (August 9, 2002) - The Indian Claims Commission (ICC) today welcomed the announcement by Indian and Northern Affairs Minister, Robert Nault, that the federal government has accepted for negotiation a claim by the Chippewa Tri-Council.

The Tri-Council includes three First Nations: the Chippewas of Mnjikaning, the Chippewas of Georgina Island and the Beausoleil First Nation. The claim questions the validity of the 1836 surrender and subsequent sale of the Coldwater-Narrows Reserve, located between Lake Simcoe and Lake Huron.

The Tri-Council submitted the claim in November 1991. When Canada rejected the claim, the Tri-Council asked the Indian Claims Commission to conduct an inquiry. For the past decade, the ICC has played a key role in facilitating the discussions and in helping to bring the two parties to the negotiating table.

Phil Fontaine, Chief Commissioner of the ICC, said that the decision to proceed with negotiations is an illustration of the important contribution that the Commission makes to the specific claims process. "Mediation is one of the key services that we provide to parties in a claim dispute," he noted. "Time and again, our experience as a neutral third party has demonstrated that when First Nations and Canada agree to mediation or assisted negotiations, issues can be discussed openly, impasses broken and claims settled. What we have here is a win-win situation from which both the Chippewa Tri-Council and Canada benefit."

Mr. Fontaine said that the decision to proceed to negotiation avoids the spectre of costly litigation: "This decision has effectively saved the Canadian taxpayer and the First Nations countless millions that would have been spent on fighting the claim in the courts."

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.

To download the report PDF