Indigenous leaders and multiple levels of government came together to celebrate a landmark agreement in Saskatoon Thursday.
In September 1992, 25 First Nations signed the Saskatchewan Treaty Land Entitlement (TLE) Framework Agreement with the provincial and federal governments.
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“The SIGA casinos are all on First Nation land – opportunity for development, to contribute, to be part of the economy,” said Chief Bobby Cameron of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations.
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The TLE agreement provided a standardized method for First Nations to buy Crown land, along with mineral rights, structures and buildings associated with the land.
Since the agreement was struck 25 years ago, another eight First Nations have signed on.
More than 860,000 acres of reserve land has been created under the agreement, though Cameron feels there is room for improvement.
“It took close to 20 years to transfer one million acres to become first nation status,” he said.
“It’s that addition to reserve process that we’ve been lobbying and advocating for, for quite a number of years now. Let’s speed that up. It shouldn’t take long.”
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Cameron also expressed frustration over the Saskatchewan government’s online sale of parcels of Crown land.
“That is a perfect opportunity for this province to honour the TLE agreement that they were a part of,” Cameron said, adding some of the land has been selected by First Nations.
As of August 2016, 23 of the original 25 First Nations achieved the minimum amount of land required to be purchased and set apart as reserve, according to the federal government.
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