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Originally Posted by BlackDog204
A First Nations group won the right to the land, and is developing it into a mixed residential/commercial zone on the old barracks.
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To be clear, Treaty First Nations won the right to 'first option' to the land.
First Nations, by mutual agreement with the Feds, must be offered the first option to purchase any land declared a surplus by the federal government.
This agreement was created under the Treaty Land Entitlement Framework (TLEF) after the Feds spent millions in fighting losing cases regarding Treaty negotiations that said an "x" amount of land were to be reserved for indigenous peoples.
Instead, the gov illegally stole land (sometimes entire reservations) and under-delivered on written Treaty promises with pretty much every tribe. The cost, if I remember correctly, to settle these cases costs more than $6 billion.
And these lawsuit settlements are based off of current indigenous population rather than the population of indigenous at the time of the signing of the respective treaty.
For Treaty 1 territory, the gov must payout the cash cost of 32 acres per member of the tribe or 160 acres per family of 5. And as the price of an acre rises through the years, so does the cash cost of settling these cases.
And rather than doing things the right way back in the 1870's when the indigenous populations were much smaller, these injustices mean Canada must payout the cash cost of acres for TODAY'S modern population--resulting in even larger sums of money being paid.
The longer Canada waits to settle these lawsuits the more it will cost taxpayers because of these two factors.
The tribe's government receives this cash from these lawsuit settlements/wins to purchase land to rightfully re-allocate towards its total allowable reserve size. Sometimes the tribe votes to spend the cash towards investing into businesses and/or paying out all individual members of the tribe.
This helps the reserve become more financially independent and thus self-determined. It also temporarily assists with alleviating some poverty.
Indigenous peoples pay for the land just like anyone else and at a fair market price too just as the TLEF states. This money received was rightfully and legally won in Canada's own courts with Canada's own agreements.
First Nations are not given the land in any way. First Nations must purchase the land from the Feds. This is why only a section of the total Barracks are owned by First Nations and the rest to other developers. And First Nations who have signed a TLEF have a limited number of acres they can re-convert back into reservation land (as outlined by their case) since Canada forbids First Nations from expanding their reservations.
These are the reasons are why First Nations have no interest in acquiring the land directly up against the current property line of Route 90 & the Barracks. Route 90 Kenaston is going to be widened. It doesn't make sense for the First Nations to use their limited capital and limited land allocation on land that needs to be acquired by the city. The legal costs and time of this alone just don't make sense. It provides no benefit for First Nations to purchase the land where the Kenaston will be widened.
In fact, it's a burden!
Remember, this is a business investment for First Nations to pull themselves out of poverty, debt and to become self-determined nations like they once were before colonization. They need the increased traffic and mobility to the site if they wish to capture more market share. This project also needs to be efficiently managed better and constructed quicker.
Every year that goes by means one less year of business revenue, an extra year of debt interest and hardship for many indigenous peoples living in poverty.
Supporting indigenous projects like this means supporting their financial independence and thus less financial reliance on Canada.
Remember, we're independent, but connected, nations. The Treaties are a nation-to-nation agreement between multiple separate indigenous nations and Canada.
As Canada holds up the Treaties as receipt/proof it has rights to use or own the land, it also proves the nationhood of indigenous governments. Indigenous nations are not a subordinate branch of the Canadian government, they're nations--the 1st (First) nations here.
And the 7 separate, independent nations that signed the first numbered treaties (Treaty 1) with Canada that makeup this new Kapyong Barracks reservation all must negotiate amongst themselves while also negotiating with the Feds, the province, the city, the public and other involved bodies.
Remember: As separate indigenous nations, we also have different priorities and we are all at different stages with our land settlements. Peguis for example has their case settled whereas Sagkeeng does not. Roseau River got their land settlement done in 2 weeks whereas Sagkeeng has been waiting 100+ years.
The difference between the two is that one has an oil pipeline route running through their reservation and one does not. The gov has the resources and ability to resolve these issues but obviously neglects to do so probably just to 'balance the budget' during their tenure in office.
So, if things are going slow or not smoothly at all, it's likely the fault of the folks Canadians voted for.
It's safe to assume that all First Nations are very eager to settle their cases, build business and get moving whereas Canadian politicians burning through billions of dollars to settle these land cases in a single tenure would likely damage public opinion and thus hurt their re-election chances.
If public opinion was in favor of immediately settling these land claims and paying out billions, we could save hundreds of millions of dollars in legal costs over the next century. The benefits for all parties would be astronomical.
Fighting the solution just drags out the problem even longer--just like folks who fight solutions that could end the pandemic.
Anyway, that's my TedTalk. Hope that brought insight.
PS; I'm not on here often so I will likely not see any replies until weeks or months later.
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in all seriousness though, I really hope that the design can be improved, because this parcel represents a massive opportunity.
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