Pasqua First Nation has filed a statement of claim in federal court against both the federal and provincial governments.
The statement of claim alleges both Canada and Saskatchewan have failed to properly implement the Saskatchewan Treaty Land Entitlement agreement.
Chief Todd Peigan says in 2012 the Pasqua First Nation selected 15-quarter sections of land deemed provincial Crown land but the selections were denied.
However, Chief Peigan says these same sections of land were later sold to a third party.
“We found out later that some of the land, after our selection, some of those lands were sold which is a violation of the agreement because if the province deemed them to be for sale then they have an obligation under the TLE agreement,” he says. “In this case we selected them prior to them being sold and they should have given Pasqua First Nation the correspondence saying that we require the First Nations to purchase those lands instead of selling them to a third party interest.”
He adds some of the sections were only deemed as wildlife land after the Pasqua First Nation expressed interest in acquiring them.
Government Relations spokesperson Trisha Delormier-Hill says she can’t comment on this specific case but adds one of the roles of the province is to review the requests under the process.
“The province assists in that process by reviewing those lands for any provincial third party interest on the land,” she says.
Some of those third party interests can include agricultural, economic and environmental interests.
Saskatoon lawyer Dwight Newman says most of the Crown land is owned by the province and disputes over Treaty Land Entitlement are not unique to Saskatchewan.
“There was an issue about Treaty Land Entitlement land in the city of Winnipeg where it was military land of the federal government which they tried to sell off and then there was an issue because there was a Treaty Land Entitlement process still underway,” he says. “But most Crown land is considered to be owned by the province rather than the federal government these days.”
The province says that due to the litigation process, it is not appropriate to comment on the matter at this time.