Ottawa compensates Siksika tribe Can$1.3 bn for taken land

MSN - AFP, 2 June 2022

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, pictured in March 2022, said Ottawa had
'acted dishonourably' in taking the Siksika community's land in 1910. © JOHN THYS

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday signed a Can$1.3 billion (US$1.0 billion) deal -- one of the largest of its kind -- to settle a Blackfoot tribe's century-old land claim. 

"We're gathered today to right a wrong from the past," Trudeau said at a signing ceremony on the Siksika First Nation's traditional lands in western Canada. 

The government took almost half of the tribe's reserve lands in Alberta province in 1910 to use for resources development and to sell to settlers. 

The land grab came even though the 115,000 acres (46,000 hectares) in the western prairies region had been secured for the community in a treaty 30 years earlier. 

Trudeau said Ottawa had "acted dishonourably" in taking the community's "most productive agricultural and mineral-rich lands for the benefit of others." 

Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller noted that the Siksika had lost out on a share of the wealth created from these lands, as well as access to many sacred sites. 

He said it was important to recognize such "exploitative bargains and lands surrenders." 

"While this settlement doesn't make up for the past, we hope it will lead to a better and brighter future for this generation and those to come," he added. 

Under the settlement, the Siksika may acquire over time lands for addition to their reserve, to make up for those surrendered in 1910. 

"Our way of life has changed. It will never be the same as it was before," said Siksika Chief Ouray Crowfoot, wearing a feather headdress. 

"This land claim, yeah, $1.3 billion, that's a lot of money. It'll never make it whole of what it was before. But we got to move forward," he said. 

The community, he added, is starting to see a revival of its culture and traditions, as well as the Blackfoot language -- now used on local road signage, for example. 

He also pointed to a nearby archeological dig that is unearthing artifacts dating back thousands of years that show the Blackfoot "survived on these plains since time immemorial." 

"We're a resilient people here at Siksika. We're overcoming and now we're not just surviving, we're moving into an era of thriving."