TRUSTEE POSITIONS

As a requirement of the Peguis First Nation Surrender Claim Trust, the Peguis First Nation is seeking qualified candidates to stand for election as Trustees.

The Trustee Nominating Committee is required to nominate for election those candidates most qualified to act as Trustees.  The nomination of those applicants as candidates for election is based on eligibility criteria approved by Peguis First Nation Membership. 

The number of Financial Trustees shall be seven (7) of which Peguis First Nation Membership must elect five (5) persons to sit as Financial Trustee.  Two (2) Financial Trustees shall be appointed by Chief & Council.  At least four (4) Financial Trustees shall ordinarily reside on Reserve during their term of office; at least one (1) Financial Trustee shall ordinarily reside off Reserve during their term of office.

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Call for Applications: TLE Land Selection & Acquisition Advisory Committee

Peguis First Nation TLE Implementation invites applications from members who are interested in being a member of the TLE Land Selection and Acquisition Advisory Committee.

Peguis First Nation TLE Implementation (PFN TLE Implementation) is the lead in implementing the Peguis First Nation Treaty Entitlement Agreement.  PFN TLE Implementation is in the process of identifying Crown Land Selections and Land Acquisitions of up to a total amount of 166,794 acres.

Download complete details with criteria - click here

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Progress in TLE Implementation | February 2009

Nomination and Election of Trustees:

Under our terms of our Trust, our Members control the nomination and election of Trustees. We first had to establish a Trustee Nominating Committee (TNC) to develop and recommend the Trustee eligibility criteria. This work was done after the TNC was appointed by Council last summer. After we approved the eligibility criteria, the TNC called for applications from Peguis Members for the Trustee positions. Based on the criteria, the TNC nominated 15 Members to stand for election for Financial Trustees and another 12 to stand for election as Community Fund Trustees.

Council called for the election on November 20, 2008. Based on over 600 ballots cast by the eligible voting Members of Peguis, the following persons were elected to the offices of Financial or Community Fund Trustees:

(i) Financial Trustees (5 elected by Members, 2 to be appointed by Council):

1. Resident on Reserve: Diane Bear, Stephen Daniels, Sharon Stevenson, Carrie Sutherland;
2. Resident off Reserve: Annette Spence
3. Alternates: Clarence Daniels, Valmarie Sinclair and Irvin Wilson

Council has not yet appointed the two other Financial Trustees.  The Trustees have undertaken orientation and education on the legal and technical requirements of the Trust. They are now proceeding to hire a Trust financial manager and administrator.

The Financial Trustees have legal title to the Trust assets and are responsible for the engagement of independent professional financial management firm, the proper disbursement of Trust funds, annual reporting to Members and compliance with the tax ruling requirements.

(ii) Community Fund Trustees (5 elected by Members)

1. Resident on Reserve: Barry Bear, Freda Bear, Lloyd Sinclair, and Ralph Sutherland;
2. Resident off Reserve: Stanley Bird;
3. Alternates: Robert Delorme and Anita Sutherland

The Trustees have undertaken orientation and education on the legal and technical requirements of the Trust. They are now proceeding to develop application forms and information for Members on how to propose community projects for funding.

The Community Fund Trustees have no responsibility for the management of the Trust assets and are responsible for the proper identification and approval of projects up to $50,000 in costs or recommendation of community projects above that amount to Council or the Members. Annual projects will likely be limited to the income earned on the Community fund capital each year. These will necessarily be smaller projects. They also provide an annual report on their activities and all projects funded to Members.

Each group of Trustees must select a chairperson, when that is done, the Members will be provided with that information. 

Implementation of the TLE Agreement:

Council hired Nathan McCorrister, a Peguis Member, to take on the job of Manager of Claim Implementation in 2008. Nathan has been assisting in the overall setup of the Peguis Trust on an interim basis only. When the Trust hires its own Administrator, he will return to his job of assisting us in selecting Crown land and buying private land for Reserve under our Agreement.

As you know, we secured the right to about 15,000 acres of former St. Peter’s Reserve from Manitoba. This alone will be a big job to move to Reserve status in light of the community pasture arrangements, Ducks Unlimited leases and other matters to be dealt with in that process. We will also revisit the land we placed on hold for possible selection around High Rock Lake and north of our Reserve 1C on Lake Winnipeg, as well as other sites near the old Reserve. Council has directed that we re-establish the community land advisory committee to obtain elder and other Member input in this planning and selection exercise. It is expected that we will undertake a formal community planning exercise in relation to this work this summer and fall.

Nathan is working out of our offices at 300-286 Smith Street at present. He may be contacted at (204) 942-1260, by fax at (204) 949-0616 and by toll free number at (866) 942-1260.

So you see at lot has been happening over the last few months and there is a lot more to do.  See you with an update every few months!!!

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T.L.E Election Report

The T.L.E Election Report is now available for download.

Download T.L.E Election Report

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Introduction

Under the terms of Treaty 1 entered into by the First Nation in 1871, the Peguis First Nation (then the St. Peter’s Indian Band) is entitled to select land within its traditional territory to be set apart as its common reserve. Unfortunately, the First Nation’s claim to additional reserve land entitlement under Treaty (called “Treaty land entitlement” or “TLE”) was rejected on several occasions by Canada since its first formal submission under Canada’s Specific Claims Policy in March, 1978.

Why did Canada deny the First Nation’s lawful claim to entitlement to additional land? For over 20 years, Canada had maintained the view that the present Peguis Reserve of 75,000 acres, received in exchange for the St. Peter’s Reserve, upon the surrender of the St. Peter’s Reserve in 1907, provided it with all the land to which it was entitled by Treaty. The First Nation did not agree with Canada’s view. The First Nation asserted that:

(a) the land allotted to it under Treaty was the St. Peter’s Reserve. The amount of land in that Reserve was insufficient to satisfy its Treaty land entitlement, even if based on the population of the First Nation at the time of Treaty, entitling the First Nation to additional land; and

(b) the Peguis Reserve, being provided under the terms of the 1907 surrender was land provided among other things in exchange for the St. Peter’s Reserve (a Reserve of lesser size), not as Treaty land entitlement.

From Canada’s perspective then, the First Nation’s TLE was related to the interpretation of the terms of surrender of the St. Peter’s Reserve. The First Nation had also asserted that the 1907 surrender itself was in fact invalid and unlawful.

Background

Manitoba Enters Confederation in 1870 Prior to Treaty 1

The area of the Red River valley, specifically the area to the immediate north of Selkirk, Manitoba, which came to be known as the Parish of St. Peter’s was settled by aboriginal people long before the arrival of European immigrants. It was a thriving fishing and farming community which attracted various church missions and other immigrants. Chief Peguis had long standing recognized authority to officially allocate land to members and others, a practice which was affirmed and accepted by the Hudson’s Bay Company. This authority and practice was continued by the son of Chief Peguis, Chief Henry Prince and existed at the time of Treaty 1. Peguis “deeds”, as these titles were called, were issued, sold and traded among the area settlers, which included Indian, Metis and non-aboriginal individuals. However, the majority of the local residents were members of the Peguis Band.

When Manitoba was accepted into Confederation in 1870, none of the land in Manitoba was surrendered to the Crown by First Nations. It remained entirely subject to aboriginal title. In spite of this fact, the Manitoba Act affirmed the rights of settlers who occupied land, including the members of Peguis Band, the Metis and other persons occupying land by recognized Hudson’s Bay grant or other authority.

Reserve Land Entitlement Under Treaty 1

Under the written terms of Treaty 1 executed in 1871, the year after Manitoba entered Confederation, the Peguis First Nation was entitled to the allocation of land for its Reserve based on 160 acres for each family of five, or 32 acres per person. However, it was also expressly agreed that land already occupied and improved by the First Nation members was not to be included in the calculation of Treaty land entitlement.

Land held by First Nation members was then “private” land, not part of the First Nation Reserve for the purpose of calculation of its TLE. Unfortunately, there was some dispute about this Treaty right, as the right was not set out in writing in Treaty 1, but was stated in the oral assurances and explanations given to the First Nation by the Treaty Commissioners.

It wasn’t until recently that Canada agreed that lands held by individual members would not be counted in the calculation of commonly held Reserve.

The first Reserve surveyed for the First Nation was the St. Peter’s Reserve. This survey was commenced in 1873. At that time, Canada had not taken an accurate census of the First Nation’s population, and accordingly, due to the confusion about the status of privately held land and the lack of a proper population count at the time of first survey, the First Nation did not receive all of the land to which it was entitled under Treaty, even at that early date.

The calculation of the amount of TLE to which the First Nation was and will be entitled to was further complicated by disputes about exactly what land was in fact included in the St. Peter’s Reserve, and further what amount, if any, of the acreage of the Parish river lots surveyed was actually included in the Reserve. Further, the estimate about the amount of land in the Reserve made by the surveyor in 1874 was different from the estimate of later surveyors.

In addition, Treaty 1 expressly provided that the First Nation could select land for Reserve which encompassed land already occupied by “settlers”, settlers apparently including First Nation members who occupied land selected before the date of Treaty 1. Surveys of the Parish of St. Peter’s, containing the river lots occupied by Indian and non-Indian settlers and the balance of the common Reserve were completed, but Canada failed to clarify the status of the river lots and numerous disputes arose about who owned what land. At least two official commissions were undertaken by Canada and Manitoba to determine the claims of local individuals without resolving the competing claims.

Finally, regardless of the amount of land actually received as Reserve under Treaty, the First Nation asserts that its entitlement to Reserve land is calculated based on the current population of the First Nation from time to time, as its need for land increases with growth in population. Treaty 1 First Nations were again expressly, orally assured by the Treaty Commissioners that land would be provided for future generations.

The Surrender of 1907

Without settling the land dispute in any manner, Canada took a surrender of the St. Peter’s Reserve in 1907. After the surrender, in spite of an evident shortfall in TLE which had been outstanding since 1873, Canada took the position that the land received in exchange for the surrender of St. Peter’s Reserve, being larger than the St. Peter’s Reserve, fully satisfied its Treaty land obligations. Canada’s position entirely ignored the facts pertaining to TLE:

a) there was no discussion of outstanding Treaty land entitlement at any time during the surrender discussions which took place only the day before the vote taken;

b) the surrender did not release the Crown from any outstanding Treaty land entitlement;

c) the surrender was a land exchange only, that is, the Peguis Reserve was land received among other things in exchange for the St. Peter’s Reserve by the terms of the surrender document itself; and

d) the difference in land amount was due to the terms of the “deal”, that is, for example, since the land at the new Peguis Reserve was of lesser quality, located far distant from the First Nation’s established economic base and the Red River valley; and

e) the historic evidence indicates the size of the Peguis Reserve offered was in fact an incentive given to the First Nation to entice it to surrender the St. Peter’s Reserve and settle various other claims of the First Nation considered by the 1907 Royal Commission.

Canada has also agreed that the surrender itself was legally invalid for failure to comply with the terms of the Indian Act of 1906. A more fundamental basis for invalidity is found in Treaty 1 itself and the Royal Proclamation of 1763 – Reserve land cannot be taken except in a public meeting with the informed consent of the First Nation.

Outstanding Treaty Land Entitlement

According to a population analysis completed for the First Nation by the Treaty and Aboriginal Rights Research Centre in November, 1983, the original population of the Peguis First Nation was 1875 persons, entitling the First Nation to 60,000 acres of Reserve land (1875 persons x 32 acres or 93.75 square miles) at the date of the first survey in 1873. However, preliminary research conducted by Canada completed in August, 1999, indicated a TLE of 47,552 acres. The amount of land received under Treaty as St. Peter’s Reserve is deducted from the final TLE amount determined in the negotiations.

The amount of land within the St. Peter’s Reserve was always in dispute. Land surveyed and within the Parish of St. Peter’s, was claimed by the First Nation and “settlers” including First Nation members, Metis and non-aboriginal individuals. The exact amount of land in the Parish occupied by members of the St. Peter’s Band, now the Peguis First Nation, was and has never been determined. Canada and the First Nation have agreed that 1,478 acres of the Parish was common reserve forming part of the St. Peter’s Reserve. The balance of the land surveyed as St. Peter’s Reserve contained an estimated 37,915 acres of land (59.24 square miles). Accordingly, for the purposes of the TLE negotiations, the area of St. Peter’s Reserve has been agreed as being 39,393 acres of land. The First Nation had outstanding TLE in 1873 based on INAC’s shortfall policy on TLE or its then current population and continues to have additional land entitlement today. Further research on the 1873 population of the First Nation and the status/ownership of the riverlots is being completed by INAC and the First Nation.

Based on its policy approach to TLE, Canada agreed that the First Nation is entitled to additional Reserve land on June 29, 1998.