Northwestern Ontario's Lac La Croix First Nation receives "transformational" land claim settlement
CBC
A settlement agreement was signed this week between Lac La Croix First Nation and the provincial and federal governments – more than 20 years after the First Nation submitted its treaty land entitlement claim.
The semi-remote First Nation is located about 320 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont. along the Ontario-Minnesota border. It has a registered population of 489 people and residents primarily speak Anishinaabemowin.
The settlement resolves a long-outstanding claim that Lac La Croix did not receive all the lands owed to it under Treaty 3, which was signed in 1873.
Now, 150 years later, a historical wrong has been addressed, said the First Nation's chief, Carrie Atatise-Norwegian.
Altogether, Lac La Croix is receiving $131.3 million in compensation, $118.2 million of which comes from the federal government and the remaining $13.1 million from the Government of Ontario.
This makes up for the amount of land the First Nation lost in the 1873 agreement, plus the loss of economic benefits that land would have produced, Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Marcus Powlowski told CBC News.
"That land that was once Indigenous land through the treaty process has become the land for non-Indigenous people," he said. "We've all benefited over the years and now we owe them for some of the things which were supposed to have been in the agreement where we reneged."
The timeline of the settlement process was as follows:
Grand Council Treaty 3 spans from west of Thunder Bay to north of Sioux Lookout, along the international border, to Manitoba. It is made up of 28 First Nations.
There are many Treaty 3 land settlement agreements currently underway, including Couchiching First Nation, Mitaanjigamiing First Nation and Grassy Narrows First Nation, said Powlowski. Many of the claims under Treaty 3 are related to damages caused by flooding.
"I don't think this is going to be the last announcement related to Treaty 3 in the near future," he said.
A commemorative signing was held Tuesday in the First Nation's Roundhouse with Powlowski, Chief Atatise-Norwegian, and provincial Minister of Northern Development and Minister of Indigenous Affairs Greg Rickford.
"It's very memorable, it's historical, it's transformational for our community to have achieved this and to have reached this point," Atatise-Norwegian told CBC News.
It's been both an exciting and emotional time for the First Nation. Negotiations have gone through multiple chiefs and councillors over the years with involvement from community members and Elders, many of whom have passed away since the claim was first submitted, she said.