Métis federation, Ottawa settle Kapyong land lawsuit
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/05/2021 (1957 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
OTTAWA — The Manitoba Metis Federation has signed a cash settlement with Ottawa to repeal a lawsuit about not being consulted when the former Kapyong barracks lands were transferred to local First Nations.
The former south Winnipeg military site closed in 2004. In August 2019, the federal Liberals transferred the site to Treaty 1 First Nations, after a decade-long court battle.
The First Nations had argued the Harper government failed to uphold a legal duty to consult with local bands before divesting federal land, as those parcels could be used to fill treaty land quotas.
Two months after Ottawa signed its deal with First Nations, the Métis asked a federal court to rule Ottawa should have also offered them a chance to buy parcels of the land.
On Monday, the MMF and Department of National Defence announced the Métis were withdrawing their lawsuit.
“Reconciliation can work; nation-to-nation governance can work, if you respect it,” said MMF president David Chartrand. “At the end of the day, you’re going to save millions upon millions in court battles.”
The terms of the deal are confidential, but include “financial and other components to advance reconciliation,” according to a news release.
Chartrand would only say the money will help the MMF in future projects to buy and develop land. The deal will probably prompt Ottawa to consult before it divests land in Manitoba, he said.
“They took heed to the message that the courts have given over and over.”
Treaty One Development Corp. praised Ottawa for inking the Métis deal and leaving its project uninterrupted.
“This landmark agreement is important, in that it supports the MMF and their path toward reconciliation,” wrote spokesman Long Plain Chief Dennis Meeches.
The First Nations are developing the lands into residential and commercial buildings under the name Naawi-Oodena, which in Anishinaabe means “centre of the heart and community.”
dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca