Exploring Theme: "Comprehensive Claims and Modern Treaties"

NationTalk: VANCOUVER, BC and Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) territories – Today, the BC Treaty Commission released its 2023 Annual Report focusing on negotiation updates, policy innovations and an informative feature on the Tsawwassen First Nation. In the past year, negotiation momentum and dedicated efforts have resulted in significant progress including, s.87 tax-exemption...

APTN News: A territory-wide land use plan for Nunavut, set to cover one-fifth of Canada’s land mass, is one step closer to becoming a reality. On June 20, the Nunavut Planning Commission, the organization responsible for the Nunavut Land Use Plan submitted its recommended plan to the federal and territorial governments, as well as Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated,...

Dakota members formally recognized as Indigenous peoples in Canada, will have self-governance CBC News: Whitecap Dakota First Nation finally has its own treaty with Canada after a decade of negotiations and centuries of being unrecognized as Indigenous people of this country. The First Nation in Saskatchewan says it’s the first Dakota nation to sign a...

Comprehensive claims are claims by Indigenous Peoples for their own land accepted for negotiation by the federal government. First People’s Law Report: Indigenous Rights in One MinuteThe federal government introduced its comprehensive land claims policy following the Supreme Court’s 1973 Calder decision. Up until then the federal government had denied the existence of Indigenous land rights. Canada’s land...

The Globe and Mail: Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller announced a new policy meant to address issues in the federal government’s implementation of the approximately two dozen treaties it has signed with Indigenous peoples since 1975, which are known as modern treaties. In remarks Tuesday at the Land Claims Agreement Coalition conference in Ottawa, Mr....

Fifty years ago, a group of Indigenous leaders from the Yukon arrived in Ottawa to meet the prime minister and make a bold proposal. The meeting would effectively set the country on a new course, by opening the era of modern land claims. CBC News: To Chief Elijah Smith, it was the construction of a...

Discovery Island Marine Park and Sooke Mountain Park would remain open to the public, managed by First Nations CBC News: Two provincial parks in the southern Vancouver Island region may be returned to local First Nations as part of the modern treaty process. The Songhees and T’Sou-ke Nations are in the final negotiation stage of the B.C....

Modern Treaties: Comprehensive Land Claim Settlements or Self-Government Agreements   Date Agreement Indigenous Group 1977 James Bay and Northern Québec Agreement James Bay Cree 1978 Northeastern Québec Agreement Inuit 1984 Inuvialuit Final Agreement Western Arctic Inuit: Northwest Territories 1986 Sechelt Indian Band Self Government Agreement 1992 Gwich’in Agreement Northwestern portion of the Northwest Territories and...

Comprehensive land claims deal with the unfinished business of treaty-making in Canada. These claims generally arise in areas of Canada where Aboriginal land rights have not been dealt with by treaty or through other legal means. In these areas, forward-looking agreements (also called “modern treaties”) are negotiated between the Aboriginal group, Canada and the province...

Framework Agreement At this first stage of negotiation, the groups involved agree on issues to be discussed, how they will be discussed, and on deadlines for reaching an Agreement-in-Principle. Agreement-in-Principle The Agreement-in-Principle (AIP) is the second stage in the negotiation process. This is the stage during which the parties negotiate the issues set out in...

Modern Treaties and Self-Government Agreements The modern treaty era began in 1973 after the Supreme Court of Canada decision (Calder et al. v. Attorney-General of British Columbia), which recognized Aboriginal rights for the first time. This decision led to the development of the Comprehensive Land Claims Policy and the first modern treaty, the James Bay...