The Mosquito, Grizzly Bear’s Head, Lean Man First Nation has been awarded a multi-million judgement in a historic land claim dating back to 1905.
The claim leads back to 1905, when the Federal Government took 14,700 acres of land, or about 2/3s of the reserve, which is outside of North Battleford. According to the CBC, the First Nation has been working for government compensation since the 1990s.
In a claim filed with Canada Specific Claims Tribunal in 2014, the band alleged that the federal government took the land. At that time, the Government denied the claim, but in 2017 agreed that the land lost was taken invalidly, and breaching Crown fiduciary duty for Indian Reserve No. 110/111.
In their judgement, the Tribunal says “this breach occurred within a Treaty relationship, with respect to a Treaty reserve, and the breach led directly to the permanent alienation of Treaty reserve land from the Claimant.”
The decision on January 18th compensates the First Nation a total of $126,933,972 from the federal government.
This number was determined factoring $15,500,000 in current unimproved market value, and $111,433,972 in equitable compensation and for loss of use.