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First Nations, B.C. and Canada slowly reached agreements on land taken from reserves

Representatives of First Nations, the province and the federal government gathered at the B.C. Legislature this morning to recognize the righting of an injustice 100 years in the making.

While the B.C. minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, Michael de Jong, said the day is evidence the new relationship is working, aboriginal leaders said the process took too long and is a small step.

“This has been a long process,” said Harold Leighton, chief of the Metlakatla Indian Band. “I hope we’ve learned something from this process as we go forward . . . It doesn’t have to take this long to resolve these issues.”

Today’s event was to recognize 22 agreements reached with First Nations who had land removed from their reserves without their consent. Those removals were made possible by the McKenna-McBride Royal Commission, which between 1912 and 1916 looked at the size of reserves. The commission added to many reserves, but also made it possible to remove land with consent.

Over the years some 19,020 hectares were removed from reserves, but without the consent of First Nations. The injustice has been recognized by B.C. and Canada since at least 1977.

In his remarks, de Jong acknowledged that justice has been slow to come. “The history of our relationship with each other has not always been a positive one,” he said. “The question of land . . . has been a challenging, a difficult, one.”

He concluded, however, that “a story that’s tinged with sadness, unfairness and injustice” has emerged as one of hope.

“There was a lot of work that went into this,” said Metlakatla’s Leighton, who added he’s been involved in this claim since 1978. Many of the people who worked on it are now dead, he said. “I was involved in it for 30 years. Then I had more hair. It wasn't so grey. I guess we grew. We matured over these years.”

The Metlakatla and Lax Kw’alaams bands are together receiving 4,755 hectares, as well as $150,000 each for negotiation funding. Metlakatla will also get $3,000.

The Seton Lake Band will get 12.8 hectares and $600,000. The Gitwangak Band will receive 12.8 hectares and $350,000. It’s unclear from the province’s background material what portion of the total cut-off land has been returned, and a ministry spokesperson did not have details by deadline.*

“We’re looking forward to closing this file and moving on to other unresolved files, and there are many of them for Metlakatla,” said Leighton. “We’ve got a long way to go, but I’m not going there. It’s a good day today and we’re here to celebrate.”

Lynda Price, chief of the Ulkatcho First Nation, called the agreements “overdue.”

“In my opinion the new relationship doesn’t look very new yet,” said Gary John, chief of the Seton Lake Indian Band. He did note that being received inside the Legislature was a nice change from singing in protest outside on the lawn.

“This is the first time we’ve knocked on the door and been welcomed in to talk,” he said.

* Updated, 2:45 p.m., Nov. 4: In total, the parties have agreed to transfer 12,262 hectares to the 22 bands, a ministry spokesperson said. That's about two-thirds of the amount of land removed from reserves without their consent. They will also receive $33 million.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.


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