The dispute involves 600 hectares of prime agricultural land that was allocated to the Frank family in 1960, but earlier this year was awarded to another family instead.

A dispute between two families over land on Canada’s largest reserve is heading to court in part to question whether First Nations members have any right to the ground beneath their feet. “Do Indians have property rights? That’s what we need to know,” former Blood Tribe chief Harley Frank says of his decision to take...