Drilling operations at Shore Gold’s Orion South location in the Fort a la Corne Forest. Photo courtesy Shore Gold.
A proposal for Muskoday to purchase land that’s at the centre of diamond exploration, will not have a second chance for approval.
In 2007, Muskoday requested to acquire Crown minerals and land in Fort a la Corne Forest, which is about 40 kilometres northeast of Muskoday, in an effort to satisfy the First Nation’s outstanding treaty land entitlement (TLE) under the TLE Settlement Agreement.
The TLE Settlement Agreement “is the end product of a process with its core being Canada attempting to remedy broken treaty obligations with First Nations,” says Court of Queen’s Bench Justice R.S. Smith.
In 2008, twelve different provincial ministries looked over Muskoday’s proposal and provided input before the province made the final call to reject the proposal.
Chief Austin Bear filed a lawsuit on Muskoday’s behalf in 2009. Bear’s lawyers argued the province was defying its TLE agreement obligations, which require them to treat Muskoday favorably when considering the request. Bear’s lawyers alleged the province was siding with the interests of exploration company Shore Gold.
But in a recent ruling, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice R.S. Smith disagrees.
He says the province’s concerns about how the sale would impact the future of diamond mining were valid.
He agrees that the province’s three main reasons for denying the request were relevant.
The reasons are as follows: it’s in the public interest for Saskatchewan “to retain administration and control of the FALC lands and a possible new diamond industry arising therein evidences a sensitivity to the public interest;” if approved the mineral right holders would have headed into uncertainty “at a time when they are in the process of making substantial investments;” and finally, the value of mineral deposits in the area couldn’t be pinpointed because a diamond royalty structure doesn’t exist at present in Saskatchewan.
Smith further points out that even if the province had approved Muskoday’s request, they still would have had to negotiate with Shore Gold to acquire the Fort a la Corne land. That’s because Shore Gold was already operating and held mineral rights in the area.
Smith says the conduct of Saskatchewan throughout the process reflects thoroughness and intellectual honesty when approaching the Muskoday request.
However, the ruling does provide some validation for Muskoday. Smith does agree that the province has a duty to uphold the honour of the Crown when it comes to the TLE claims. In the lawsuit, the province took the position that only treaty documents require a government to uphold the honour of the Crown.
Smith is declining to award costs in the case.