Sturgeon Lake Gets Unfavourable Land Claim Ruling

Sturgeon Lake Gets Unfavourable Land Claim Ruling

Friday, February 13, 2009 at 15:02

The Indian Claims Commission is recommending that the federal government not accept the Sturgeon Lake First Nation’s land claim request.

The band had filed the claim thinking that it still had rights to land that had been traded in 1914.

It argued that because there were only 16 voter signatures out of a possible 33, that it did not constitute a legal agreement.

But the ICC says that since there were 17 voters in attendance, that then becomes the number of possible voters and does constitute a majority.

The band also says it believed the agreement was for timber and not the land itself, something that the ICC disputes.

This will be one of the last cases the commission oversees before making way for a new land claims tribunal.