Daily Herald Staff
Hatchet Lake Denesuline First Nation will receive more than $29.6 million through a settlement addressing land it should have received under Treaty 10 more than a century ago.
The agreement was announced Sept. 1 in Wollaston Lake by Hatchet Lake Chief Bart Tsannie, Secretary of State for Rural Development Buckley Belanger and Saskatchewan Minister Responsible for First Nations, Métis and Northern Affairs Eric Schmalz.
The claim dates back to Treaty 10, which Hatchet Lake entered into in 1907.
Under the treaty, the Crown was required to set aside 640 acres of reserve land for every family of five, equal to 128 acres for each person. The federal government acknowledged Hatchet Lake did not receive the full amount of land it was entitled to.
“This settlement has been a long time coming for the people of Hatchet Lake Denesuline First Nation,” Tsannie said in a statement.
He said generations of Hatchet Lake members carried the claim forward after their ancestors entered Treaty 10 expecting its promises, including the land commitment, to be honoured.
The settlement includes $23.25 million from the federal government and about $6.35 million from Saskatchewan. The combined settlement is valued at $29,602,664 and represents full and final compensation for the Treaty Land Entitlement claim.
The agreement also gives Hatchet Lake the ability to apply to add up to 28,118 acres to its reserve land base.
That does not mean the First Nation automatically receives 28,118 acres of Crown land. Land can be acquired through willing-buyer, willing-seller transactions and then considered for addition to reserve under the federal Additions to Reserve process.
The settlement gives the First Nation options for how the compensation and future land acquisitions could be used. Crown-Indigenous Relations said Treaty Land Entitlement settlements can support land purchases, infrastructure, economic development and other community priorities.
Belanger said the agreement recognizes that the Treaty 10 promise to Hatchet Lake was not fully met.
“This settlement cannot undo that history, but it recognizes the wrong that was done,” Belanger said.
Schmalz said the settlement provides opportunities for community development, investment and long-term growth while addressing an outstanding Treaty obligation.
The agreement falls under Saskatchewan’s Treaty Land Entitlement Framework Agreement.
The federal and provincial governments signed that framework with 25 First Nations in 1992 to create a process for dealing with First Nations that had not received all of the reserve land they were entitled to under Treaty. Twelve additional individual Treaty Land Entitlement agreements have since been reached outside the original group.
Treaty Land Entitlement claims are different from disputes over ownership of particular pieces of land. They are based on whether a First Nation received the amount of reserve acreage promised according to its population when the Treaty obligation was established.
The Hatchet Lake settlement is also considered a specific claim, a federal process used to deal with past failures involving First Nation lands, assets and the fulfilment of historic Treaty obligations.
Since the federal Specific Claims Program began in 1973, 801 claims worth a combined $24.7 billion have been settled through negotiations.
Hatchet Lake Denesuline First Nation and the neighbouring community of Wollaston Lake are located along the southeastern shore of Wollaston Lake in Saskatchewan’s Athabasca region.
For Hatchet Lake, the new agreement closes one part of a Treaty obligation dating back 119 years, while opening the door for the First Nation to expand its land base in the years ahead.
