Saskatchewan First Nation awarded $141M in adjusted decades-long land claim settlement

A First Nation near North Battleford, Sask., has been awarded more than $141 million in an appeal following a decades-long land claim settlement.

In 1905, the Mosquito, Grizzly Bear’s Head, Lean Man First Nation (MGBHLM) lost more than 5,800 hectares of reserve land. In 2014 it claimed the federal government illegally took and sold the land in the Battlefords area.

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Ottawa denied the claim, but in 2017 the federal government agreed the loss was “invalid.”

In January, the First Nation was originally awarded $127 million by the Specific Claims Tribunal.

“While this was the largest such award ever made by the Tribunal, the expert studies of all parties all supported a much higher amount,” reads a press release from the First Nation.

A review of the decision by the Federal Court of Appeal in March agreed, adding an additional $14 million to the settlement, along with interest.

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The First Nation said the money will go into an independently managed trust to provide income for its future generations.

“This much-needed compensation will assist the First Nation in community development, housing, education, Elders’ and youth initiatives, and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic,” it wrote.

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