Peguis nears $126-M settlement
By: Alexandra Paul
Updated: May 23 at 09:26 AM CDT
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PEGUIS First Nation will announce details today of a $126-million federal settlement it's receiving for an historic land fraud.
The settlement is compensation for being illegally uprooted a century ago, the band's chief advisor explained Thursday.
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"This is for a specific claim dealing with the illegal surrender of our reserve at St. Peter's that was done in 1907," Peguis advisor Lloyd Stevenson said Thursday. "The surrender wasn't done properly, and, as a result, we're getting damages."
In 1907, descendents of an Ojibwa band led by Chief Peguis were removed from their fertile farm land in Petersfield, near Selkirk. The entire population was relocated to a parcel of rocky swamp on Lake Winnipeg.
The First Nation, which now numbers 8,400 Cree and Ojibwa people, is still at the location, 220 kilometres north of Winnipeg. For decades the band insisted to Ottawa that its ancestors had been swindled out of their original farmlands -- but they were denied every time they filed a claim.
It wasn't until 1998 that the federal Indian Claims Commission agreed with the band, and Ottawa gave in, said Stevenson. Since then, the band has been negotiating with federal Indian Affairs officials for damages.
The details of the deal will be released today at a press conference called by the band's governing council.
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Chief Peguis
The deal is also loosely related to Ottawa's determination to whittle down a backlog of land claims now reported to number more than 800 across the country.
The settlement with Peguis may be the largest so far in Canada -- even more than the $120 million given to an Alberta First Nation, Stevenson said.
Stories of the Peguis land fraud are part of the band's annals.
"Tricked is one word to describe it. Swindled is another. We also call it our Trail of Tears," Stevenson said.
The Trail of Tears is a reference to the forced relocation of the Cherokee nation from their Georgia home to Oklahoma in the 1830s. Hundreds died on the trek to the American Midwest.
There are no records of people dying on the journey overland to Peguis a century ago. But historians agree conditions were harsh.
"When our people were forced to relocate, it was extremely hard on them. There were no roads and they were leaving a settled community. They had to start all over again," Stevenson said.
The St. Peter's Reserve near Selkirk was lush, settled farmland by 1900. One historical document the band used in its negotiations described St. Peter's as a thriving community with rich soil close to bustling markets, the rival of any pioneer town.
The band's founding chief, Peguis, is the aboriginal leader best known for saving the Selkirk settlers in 1812 from slaughter by North West Company fur traders. He brought his people to Manitoba from Sault Ste. Marie in the 1790s.
The settlement is separate from a $64-million deal endorsed by Peguis voters last fall in another historic land package, called a treaty land entitlement package.
"In our information that we're giving out, " said Stevenson, "we do speak about the two claims. Each one is distinct but they both have common threads based on the old St. Peter's reserve."
The $64 million claim is to settle a land entitlement at Peguis's present location. After the community was uprooted, it was promised hundreds of thousands of acres it didn't get which they're still owed under their treaty. "That's the $64-million one," Stevenson said. The bulk of that money -- $51.4 million -- would be placed in a trust fund to buy 166,000 acres of land the band should have received under the terms of its treaty.
alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca