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28/03/1996

The Indian Claims Commission Unique Inquiry Process Expedites Land Claim Settlement

Ottawa (March 28, 1996) - The Indian Claims Commission (ICC or the Commission) today released its Report on the Inquiry into the specific land claim of the Nak'azdli First Nation. The Commission's unique inquiry process led to the expedient resolution of this land claim.

Pursuant to the mandate of the ICC to inquire into and report on specific claims rejected by the Government of Canada, the Commission has developed a unique inquiry process which integrates First Nations customs and oral traditions with western concepts of justice and procedure. One part of this process is the "Community Session".

The "Community Session" provides a forum that enables the First Nation to present historical evidence directly to the Commissioners in their oral tradition. The Community Session therefore permits the First Nation to present their rendering of events which can be of great assistance in supplementing an incomplete history of the claim obtained from the written documentation.

Commissioner Carole Corcoran explains the nature of this claim, "The claim concerns the alienation of 300 acres of land set apart as Aht-Len-Jees Indian Reserve (I.R.) No. 5 for the Nak'azdli First Nation. The reserve had been confirmed in the final report of the Royal Commission on Indian Affairs for the Province of British Columbia, known as the McKenna-McBride Commission, in 1916. This decision was later 'disallowed' by the Ditchburn-Clark Commission in 1923, appointed by the federal and provincial governments to review decisions of the McKenna-McBride Commission." The First Nation maintained that the "disallowance" was unlawful and that the claim should be considered valid under the federal government's 1982 Specific Claims Policy.

In this particular case, the oral statements given by the elders caused Canada to reconsider the rejection of this claim. Ultimately Canada offered to accept it for negotiation; an offer that the First Nation has accepted. Canada has acknowledged that its offer to negotiate the Nak'azdli claim resulted from statements made by the elders at the Community Session.

Elder Nicholas Pierce, who was Chief at Nak'azdli in 1967, told the Commission he did not know why his peoples' reserve land was taken back, despite the decision of the Mckenna-McBride Commission. Addressing the inquiry, he said "the cutoff of these reserves somewhat made it difficult for our people to continue our traditional practices, because these lands were very important to our people..."

Commissioner Corcoran states that "the success of this claim reinforces the need to continue with the distinctive information-gathering stage that the Community Session has to offer. It has proven to be a means of supplementing an existing historical written record with the oral tradition of First Nation communities, which, in this instance, has resulted in an accepted claim."

To download the backgrounder

To download the report PDF