Blood Tribe OKs Ottawa’s $5.8M in compensation
Band land used without permission for bombing practice during the war
CALGARY A First Nation in southern Alberta is celebrating a $5.8-million award from Ottawa after its members voted overwhelmingly in favour of a settlement that “rights a historic wrong.”
The Blood Tribe, the largest First Nation by land mass in Canada, had successfully argued the Canadian government violated federal laws by occupying nearly 22,300 hectares of the band’s land during the Second World War.
The Canadian military used the property northeast of Standoff townsite as a shooting and bombing practice range from 1941 to 1945. But the government didn’t seek the band’s approval through a vote of eligible members, a requirement of the Indian Act.
“(The military was) dropping bombs and many of the tribal members experienced it; that’s why they questioned it after the war,” said Rick Tailfeathers, spokesman for the Blood Tribe.
The band argued that it lost a big source of revenue, because it could have used the land for oil and gas exploration, farming and grazing.
“The Department of National Defence used it free of charge without going through their own rules of engagement,” said Dorothy First Rider, a band councillor and the chairwoman of a committee that pushed for the claim.
The band filed the claim in 2003 at the urging of elders who had lived through the period. After Ottawa agreed it had run afoul of the law, officials commissioned studies to calculate the value of revenue the band lost during the war.
Twelve years after the claim was filed, nearly 1,600 tribal members voted in favour of a settlement agreement that provides the band with $5.8 million in compensation, which must be spent building a project that will benefit the reserve. Two-hundred and twenty members voted against it.
According to Tailfeathers, some naysayers were hoping for a bigger settlement, while others were concerned about how the money would be spent. Under the terms of the agreement, the funds will remain in trust until the band council consults its members on the best use of the cash before approving a final decision.
There is no shortage of potential projects the funds could help pay for, First Rider said, including a new administration building, hockey arena and courthouse.