The per-capita distribution setup at the Recreation Centre. Photo courtesy Chief & Council – Beardy’s & Okemasis First Nation, Facebook.
It’s been a hectic week on Beardy’s and Okemasis, with thousands of registered band members receiving a one-time payment of $250 per person.
A special task force was assigned to distribute the payment, which was made available after a settlement was reached in December between Beardy’s and the federal government for a long overdue treaty payment dispute.
In February, chief and council announced a portion of the $4.5 million would go towards the one-time payment while the rest would go to long-term economic endeavors for the Duck Lake-area Cree Nation.
It’s estimated more than $500,000 from the settlement passed through the community’s Recreation Centre doors on Thursday and Friday. The remainder of members will have checks mailed to them next week.
Band Councillor Kevin Seeseequasis said on Friday morning “it looked like there were about five people every few minutes,” and on Thursday it’s estimated between 1,200 and 1,800 people headed to the centre.
“Our people are pretty happy it seems,” Seeseequasis said.
The biggest hiccup involved checks for young people where the name of a guardian was incorrectly documented. Seeseequasis said even those issues were minor, taking about 20 minutes to fix.
He said chief and council held a special ceremony on Thursday to honour three Elders in the community who were “instrumental in the treaty claim process.
The claim related to withheld treaty annuities to the reserve that date back to the late 1800s.
For three years after the Riel Resistance, the federal government had labeled Beardy’s members as “rebel Indians” for their participation in the Riel Rebellion and broke treaty by failing to make payments to its members.
In a symbolically significant act, the three Elders – Ken and Terry Seeesequasis and Angus Esperance – were the first people to receive the per-capita distribution.