(Chapter 4—Treaty Land Entitlement Obligations—Indian And Northern Affairs Canada - March 2009 Status Report of the Auditor General)
Ottawa, 31 March 2009—Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) has made satisfactory progress in converting lands to reserve status, says the Auditor General of Canada, Sheila Fraser, in a report released today in the House of Commons. In the last three years, it has converted more than 315,000 acres of land to reserves in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, a 42 percent increase since an audit in 2005.
“Conversions of land are part of fulfilling Canada’s century-old obligations to provide land owed to First Nations under treaties,” said Ms. Fraser.
Treaty land entitlement agreements are modern legal commitments that recognize the government’s failure to comply with its treaty obligations. Through these agreements, First Nations have the right to select Crown lands or they may purchase private lands with federal funds. These lands are then converted to reserves by the Department, on behalf of the federal government.
The audit found that the Department has also increased its efforts to coordinate environmental assessments and surveys of selected land.
However, INAC has not made satisfactory progress on improving its management practices to meet its obligations under treaty land entitlement agreements, particularly in its Manitoba region. For instance, it has not tracked the time it takes to convert lands to reserve status, and it cannot show that processing times have improved in the last three years. Nor has the Department worked with First Nations in Manitoba to help resolve third-party interests, as it did with First Nations in Saskatchewan.
The Report notes that delays can hold up First Nations’ plans for economic development until selected land is converted to reserve status.
“Meeting Canada’s obligations to provide lands owed to First Nations will require a significant, ongoing effort. The Department will need to resolve the management weaknesses we identified in order to sustain the progress of the last three years and meet a 2006 government commitment,” said Ms. Fraser.
The Status Report follows up on the government’s progress in addressing issues identified in previous reports. Progress is deemed either satisfactory or unsatisfactory, taking into account the complexity and significance of the issues and the amount of time that has passed since the original audit.
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The chapter “Treaty Land Entitlement Obligations” is available on the Office of the Auditor General of Canada website.
For more information, please click here.
