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05/10/2000

Commission Finds Surrender of Aboriginal Title to Boblo Island Invalid

Ottawa (May 10, 2000) - A 200-acre island in the Detroit River near the town of Amherstburg, On., may remain under aboriginal title because a 1786 land surrender treaty is not valid, the Indian Claims Commission found in a report released today.

The Commission recommends that the Walpole Island First Nation submit a claim through the federal comprehensive claim policy to clarify title to the island.

"Our inquiry found that whatever aboriginal title to Boblo Island existed in 1786, still exists today," said Co-Chair Dan Bellegarde.

The claim hinges on two transactions: a 1786 agreement between Deputy Indian Agent Alexander McKee and some of the Ottawa and Chippewa Chiefs; and a 1790 treaty between the colonial government and 35 Chiefs, including ancestors of the Walpole Island First Nation.

The Commission found that the 1786 transaction was not a valid land surrender. McKee had secured a surrender of Boblo Island and a seven-square-mile block on the mainland, but the Commission found the surrender invalid because it did not follow the terms of the Royal Proclamation of 1763.

The Royal Proclamation dictates that only the Crown can obtain aboriginal title and that the land cannot be settled until title has been purchased from the aboriginal group by the government at a public meeting. There was no public meeting, no record of payment, and the Pottawatomi and the Huron Nations – who used the territory and may have held aboriginal title to it – had not been involved.

The colonial government, eager to settle the area, was so concerned about the validity of the 1786 deed of surrender that it initiated a treaty with the Ottawa, Chippewa, Pottawatomi and Huron in 1790 to obtain clear title to the land. The Commission found that the 1790 treaty effectively cleared aboriginal title, but that it did not include Boblo Island.

The First Nation requested an inquiry into its claim after the federal government rejected it in 1995. The First Nation had filed its claim under the specific claims policy, which considers violations of treaties, statutes or other lawful obligations. If the Commission’s recommendation is accepted, the Walpole Island First Nation would have to establish aboriginal title to Boblo Island under the comprehensive claims policy.

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