Indian Claims Commission takes on Cold Lake dispute

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It's hard to think of a community that can tell happy stories about land claims. Every places has its stories of bent deals, unfulfilled promises and the willingness of governments to double-deal on agreements when there was money to be made.

That is why the stories emerging from land claim hearings at Cold Lake in northern Alberta hold few surprises. Witnesses there told stories of poverty and destruction of a local economy with the construction of the defence department's Primrose Lake Air Weapons Range.

But this is a set of hearings with a difference. They are the first test for the newly created Indian Claims Commission, a body set up to deal land claims rejected by the Indian Affairs department.

The Cold Lake hearings are still in progress and it will be some time before we know the nuts-and-bolts issue of this story: Will the commissions really make a difference?

If this commission can break through Ottawa's often stony indifference to long-standing disputes, first nations may have a genuine tool to gain a fair deal from a lot of bad history.

Then again, one has to wonder just how receptive a department that has already said "no" once will be to findings from a set of public hearings.

Windspeaker wishes the people of Cold Lake and the Indian Claims Commission the best of luck. Their work is going to cause difficult ripples no matter what happens.