MANITOULIN—The recent signing of a nearly half-billion-dollar settlement agreement in principle between the members of the United Chiefs and Councils of Mnidoo Mnising (UCCMM) known as the Manitoulin Project will now go before the respective communities for ratification.
Details of the settlement were being held close until community members were apprised of the agreement.
Under the agreement, should it be approved by the communities, would see $447,900,000 transferred to the First Nation parties who filed the claims as “full and final settlement” of the claims related to roads, mismanagement of Indigenous land claim funds and water lot claims (IMLF).”
In order to complete the settlement, the First Nations have agreed not to seek and pursue any future legal action against Canada, and further, the First Nations agree that Canada can ask to be indemnified should a third party bring a future claim for the same roads and other items in the agreement—an important consideration as both Wiikwemkoong and other First Nations have competing claims over the same territory.
Under the terms agreed, settlement funds would be transferred to a trust or account designated by the First Nations involved. From there, funds will be distributed according to direction of the UCCMM chiefs.
Under the agreement, a ratification vote must take place that will require at least 25 percent-plus-one of the members of each First Nation to vote, with the majority of those voting choosing to accept the settlement terms.
The Manitoulin Project is an alternative to litigation, which can literally take generations to resolve and cost prohibitive amounts of money. Through this more collaborative approach to the negotiations, the project has followed a more traditional Anishinaabe path to resolution.
The Manitoulin Project claim alleged that the Crown sold lots of land at below market value (thus reducing the trust deposits for First Nations), an allegation easily supported by the Crown’s own advertisements aimed at attracting settlers to the region. Further, the claim alleges that First Nations Trust money went into building roads for the benefit of other parties and that the First Nations Trust Funds obtained through land sales were diverted to purposes unrelated to the First Nations (the aforementioned ILMF).
The negotiations began in 2016 and continued on into 2023, with the federal government footing the bill for the process, a process that included numerous independent expert reports to determine the historical financial loss to the First Nations.
Under the agreement, Canada has also agreed to provide equitable compensation in line with trending case law for the historical mismanagement and to offer up an apology, as well as funding the ratification process.
Parties to the Manitoulin Project include Aundeck Omni Kaning, Sheguiandah, Sheshegwaning and Zhiibaahaasing.
