$154M deal accepted

Fort William First Nation members voted in favour of a $154 million deal that will see the band relinquish about 70,000 acres of land that includes Mission and McKellar islands.

The First Nation community voted 849 to 16 in favour of the settlement with six ballots rejected and 24 set aside on Saturday. It’s the largest amount offered for a land claim yet with $149 million offered from the federal government and $5 million from the province.

The deal also includes that Flatland Island and Pie Island will become part of the Fort William First Nation.

The claim, which dates back to 1853, also included that Fort William First Nation relinquish claims to Mission and McKellar islands.

Most of the community members agreed that the deal was fair.

Roxine Bannon, 59, has lived in the community all her life. She said she never thought she would see the day where the community was going to settle such a large claim.

"I came out to vote because we’re entitled to it," Roxine said. "It is a fair deal. When we get the money, I will be happy. I never thought I’d see this day… I never ever thought that this would happen."

Tania Pervais, who lives in the community with her mother and grandparents, said while the amount offered was the largest the community has seen, in the bigger picture it wasn’t that much.

"It is just enough to pay your bills off and that’s all," Pervais said. "You still have to carry on. The money is big and a substantial amount but what we’re getting out of it, I don’t think is going to last very long."

The money will help her become debt free and pay off the mortgage to her house, she said. While she thought it wasn’t enough to sustain the community for the long term, she did agree that the deal was fair.

Fort William First Nations Chief Peter Collins also voted Saturday. Collins, who steps down as Chief in April, said he wanted to leave on a high note just like Newfoundland and Labrador’s former premier Danny Williams.

"It’s has been long overdue," Collins said about the claim. "After the negotiations and the battle that we put forth here at Fort William it’s a good settlement agreement. It gives us a positive outlook on the future and gives us a strong economic base."

Ian Bannon, manager of claims and land negotiations with Fort William First Nations, said they planned to have a member distribution similar to the Neebing specific claim and then planned to invest the remaining funds for future projects within the community.

Most community members responded positively about the settlement but there were questions regarding the land claims, he said.

"As soon as you mention the word surrender it throws around a lot of curiosity and a lot of questions," Bannon said. "We wanted to emphasize in our community consultations those particular issues of the agreement that they had to vote on."

With two settlements being finalized, Bannon said there were about three more claims with Fort William First Nations that were in negotiations.