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01/06/2006

ICC Recommends Federal Government Accept "Indian Town" Claim

Ottawa (June 1, 2006) The Indian Claims Commission (ICC) issued a report today on a claim by the Taku River Tlingit First Nation. The panel found that Canada failed to act on behalf of the Taku River people in the reserve-creation process of the early 1900s, and that Canada owed the First Nation a fiduciary duty, which was breached. The panel recommends that the federal government accept the claim for negotiation.

This claim concerns the failure to set aside land as a reserve at the First Nation’s village site known as Wenah, in Atlin, BC. The Taku people allege a breach of the fiduciary duty owed by the Crown through its Indian Agent to the First Nation in the pre-reserve creation period. The issues examined in the claim include the alienation of part of the village site lands to private landholders and the First Nation’s surrender of part of another reserve in order to recover some of the land at their village site.

The Taku River Tlingit First Nation has a long history in northern BC. The oral history of the Elders suggests that, at one time, the Taku occupied the entire area around Atlin Lake. The influx of settlers during the 1898 gold rush pushed the Taku into a small area (sometimes referred to as “Indian Town”) on the southern edge of the Atlin townsite. During the reserve-creation process in BC, the Taku had 9 reserves set aside for them, none of which included Indian Town.

The panel concluded that the Indian Agent failed to properly advise and prepare the Taku River Tlingit for the McKenna-McBride Commission, which was charged with settling the Indian lands question and recommended lands be set aside for reserves. The panel found that the Agent also failed to represent the First Nation’s interests at the hearings of the Commission at Atlin and Victoria. As a result of this failure, the village site that the Taku occupied in Atlin was not set aside.

The initial breach of fiduciary duty in not setting aside the Wenah village site was continued by the government’s not seeking the remedies available to prevent the alienation of Wenah lands to private landholders. According to the panel, there was a further failure on Canada’s part to advise the Taku people when they surrendered part of the McDonald Lake Indian Reserve, in the 1950s and 1960s, in order to recover some of Wenah Village. The panel concluded that the basis of this surrender was the Crown’s original breach of its basic fiduciary duties, even if the surrender itself was valid.

The Chair of the panel, Jane Dickson-Gilmore, remarked that “the federal Crown was ultimately responsible for the Taku River Tlingit, and no other party could act on its behalf in the reserve-creation process. In this regard, Canada failed to protect adequately the First Nation’s interests. Further, we regret that having taken the position that this claim was a comprehensive, not a specific, claim. Canada refused to challenge the Commission’s exercise of its jurisdiction and declined to participate in the inquiry. As a result, the First Nation proceeded before the Commission with neither funding nor the benefit of Canada’s arguments.”

The ICC was established in 1991 to conduct inquiries, at the request of First Nations, into specific claims that have been rejected by the federal government or where the First Nation disputes the compensation criteria being considered in negotiations. In addition, the ICC provides mediation services at the request of the parties for claims in negotiation.

To download the backgrounder

To download the report - PDF