Temagami moves closer to land deal

Page 1

The most recent round of negotiations on the decades old and often volatile Temagami land claim have lasted three years and are about to enter another phase. Development on Timiskaming Crown land was stalled for years when a land caution preventing staking and exploration activities was attached to nearly 10,000 square kilometres of land in the district as a result of the Native claim.

That stalemate ended when a 1991 Supreme Court decision dismissed the claim by the band. The court did allow that the Crown still had obligations to the Temagami First Nation, based on provisions in a 19th century treaty that one band official states they never signed. Even so, negotiations resumed when the land caution came off.

On Nov. 12, public consultation ends on the report that spells out the establishment of a new mainland community for the First Nation at Shiningwood Bay near Temagami.

The text of the deal is still being worked out, but it appears a final agreement will be ready for ratification by the First Nation next June, according to Negotiations Unit Manager for the Temagami First Nation, Doug McKenzie.

If the community accepts it, provincial and federal approvals of the land transfers should be complete in two more years.

McKenzie said that after ratification by the parties it will likely be "at least 10 years to make the reserve."

He said that was because of "the size of the land and the number of ministries that's got to be involved. First of all it's going to take probably two or three years to get to the point where they can start surveying the lands."

McKenzie added the federal negotiator estimated it would take 10 years based on the experience of other settlements. In the meantime, the land they're talking about has been set aside since 1996 so that no other sale or development can take place.

The proposed land transfer includes 340 square kilometres of land at Shiningwood Bay that will constitute the new reserve. The present reserve, inhabited by about 250 people, is on Bear Island, but the new parcel will be on the mainland.

Seven development lots, including two on Lake Temagami, two on Rabbit Lake and one on Herridge Lake, will be transferred to the band. McKenzie said these will be commercial cottage lots and they likely will be leased out with fee simple property title.

The last two lots are camps along Highway 11 "almost contiguous to the reserve" that are transferring to them from private ownership.

Finally, up to 14 pieces of Crown land comprising less than three square miles will be added as traditional family lands. McKenzie explained that these 14 parcels would have at least two sites of 75 acres on each of them set side as family lands for winter and summer camps. This is the system they traditionally followed before they had a reserve.

The community will have the opportunity to select the land they want based on consensus and families' traditional use.

Other parts of the agreement include $20 million in compensation, another $4 million economic development fund made up of cash and land, the right to be consulted on land use proposals in the region, and finally the establishment of a waterway- class provincial park that will include most of the Lake Temagami mainland shoreline.

McKenzie said Temagami First Nation has about 600 members, but the Temagami Anishinaabe, which includes non-status people, number about 1,500. He said they are discussing developing a member code that will include all of them when the deal is settled.

Settling with Ontario for the lands is the important thing, McKenzie said, but the First Nation has not ruled out further action against the federal government.

"Because the Supreme Court said the Crown has a fiduciary obligation, we still feel the federal government owes us something. So we'll be pursuing some kind of a claim against the federal government ... We probably could fit into a specific claim, but the community basicallyis saying we've got more interest than a specific claim and it's because we never actually signed a treaty ... They're looking for something kind of wider ... I think there's a possibility of looking at a self-government process as part of the settlement," McKenzie said.