Skip to content

'Almost unanimous': KFN approves $28.3-million agricultural settlement

0612agr!1_forweb

Members of K'atlodeeche First Nation have voted overwhelmingly in favour of accepting a $28.3-million settlement for a promise made in Treaty 8.

In a Nov. 28 referendum, 97 per cent of members voted to accept the agricultural benefits settlement agreement negotiated between the First Nation and the federal government.

Chief Roy Fabian: leader of K'atlodeeche First Nation pleased with results of ratification vote on a settlement of the agricultural promises in Treaty 8. NNSL file photo

Chief Roy Fabian said he was quite happy with the "almost unanimous" support for the process and the many years of work that led to the settlement.

Fabian was not surprised by the high level of support.

"Not really because I think the people really understood what we were doing, and what this process is all about is just that we had outstanding treaty right issues that we wanted fulfilled," he said. "I wasn't surprised because I knew we were going to be supported. I just didn't realize how almost complete the support is."

Sixty-four per cent of eligible voters participated in the ratification process.

Fabian said that is a really good turnout because many band members live off the Hay River Reserve and away from Hay River.

Those people were given the option to vote by mail, and the chief noted more than 100 mail-in ballots were received.

Overall, 309 people voted. Of that number, 299 votes were in favour of the settlement, three were against and seven ballots were spoiled.

The vote involved the so-called cows and plows promises made in Treaty 8, signed in 1900.

In Treaty 8, Canada promised to provide the Hay River Indian Band – now K'atlodeeche First Nation – with agricultural benefits, including farming tools, equipment and animals, once a reserve was established.

From 1973 to 1974, the Hay River Dene Reserve was established in response to an attempt by the Town of Hay River to expropriate lands on the east bank of the Hay River, including the Old Indian Village.

However, agricultural benefits were not provided at that time.

Based on research carried out by the band council and community members in the 1990s and early 2000s, the First Nation filed a specific claim, along with other Treaty 8 First Nations in Alberta, seeking fulfillment of the agricultural benefits clause in Treaty 8, based on contemporary needs. Negotiations with Canada were carried out between 2008 and 2012 but stalled, and the negotiations were revived from 2014 to 2017.

According to a Nov. 29 news release, the First Nation council will now complete the paperwork required to submit the results of the referendum to Canada in order for a settlement payment of $28.3 million to be processed, which may take a few months.

The settlement agreement does not affect or prejudice the First Nation's other treaty claims processes.

Now that the settlement has been approved, a process will begin to decide how to manage the money.

Next month, KFN will initiate an internal consultation process with members and financial advisors to determine how best to manage and utilize the settlement funds for the current and long-term benefit of members, and to establish a trust fund for investment purposes. The settlement funds will remain in a secured investment account until final management and trust fund decisions have been made and approved through a second referendum by membership.

"To us, it's $28 million we didn't have," said Fabian. "So what are we going to do with the money is going to be the next question."

The chief said there is the issue of a possible payment to individual members of KFN, although he noted Canada made sure to say the money is not being given on an individual basis.

"It's fulfilling a collective right," he said. "So that means the majority of the money, most of the money, has to go into some kind of a trust fund for future generations."

The chief noted that band members will play a role in directing that trust fund.

The goal would be to preserve the money and to see it grow, while possibly spending some of the interest, perhaps on things like healthcare and an education fund.

Fabian noted that, if there is a distribution of some money to individuals, payments for children will be put in a special trust fund that they can access when they turn 18 years of age.

More than 20 other First Nations covered by Treaty 8 also received offers from the federal government to settle the agricultural promises.