Land claim settled

The land that the Thunder Bay Sawmill is situated on has been officially recognized as belonging to the Fort William First Nation, putting an end to talks that have been ongoing for years.

The negations have been between Fort William First Nations leadership, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and AbitibiBowater. It took those parties 10 years, but on Thursday the community’s chief announced that an agreement had been reached.  

“With the federal government, there’s a bureaucratic process that you have to go through,” said Fort William First Nation Chief Peter Collins Friday morning outside of AbitibiBowater’s Thunder Bay sawmill. “There are miles and miles of red tape and it’s just been a long process for us.

“I’ve been dealing with it for the whole time … this is 10 years in the making. There’s been a lot of paper work, a lot of legal work and a lot of travel to get this done.”

In 1905, the land in question was expropriated and placed under the municipal tax act. Despite that, members of the Fort William First Nation never relinquished their claim or status on the land.

In 2001, the then-Minister of Indian Affairs Bob Nault made a commitment to Fort William First Nation to return the land to reserve status, Collins said.

“In 1905, it didn’t take that long to expropriate the land,” Collins said. “But it takes that long to get it back.”

But the negotiating might not be over just yet. There are still some issues, like what to do with the tax money paid to the city during the land claim, that have to be worked out.

Collins said his community is working with the federal government to determine how compensation will work, but as of right now there isn’t a deal in place.

Until such a deal exists, Collins said his community will celebrate the fact that the land in question is now in their hands. With it, the chief hopes his community can be in a better position to become a strong economic player in this region.

“We’ll recoup the tax losses at a future date,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s our land now and we’re excited about that.”

Meanwhile, AbitibiBowater Inc.’s Luke Drapeau, who is the general manager of wood products for Northwestern Ontario, is also expressing his pleasure with the conclusion of these negotiations.

“We are very pleased that the business model for this co-operative Industrial Project with Fort William First Nation has come to its objective,” Drapeau is quoted as saying in a news release issued Thursday evening.

Collins is expecting to make an official announcement to his community at the Grand Entry event taking place Saturday.