Ontario, Alqonquins move closer to signing major land-claims treaty
Diverse groups challenge agreement that covers vast territory
The people of Ontario have, for the most part, watched the evolution of Aboriginal land claims from afar, with British Columbia snatching the lion’s share of the headlines.
But reality is about to set in as Ontario closes in on a treaty with the Algonquins of Ontario, the first modern-day treaty the province has ever signed. The treaty negotiations, which involve the federal government as well, cover 36,000 square kilometres, 86 municipalities and 1.1 million residents in Ontario.
“It’s one of the largest land claims in Canada’s history,” said Robert Potts of Blaney McMurtry LLP in Toronto, who has been the senior negotiator for the Algonquins since 2005.
The territory claimed embraces land stretching from Ottawa to Kingston to North Bay. Within its boundaries are the nation’s capital, including Parliament Hill, large parts of the Ottawa Valley, and virtually all of Algonquin Provincial Park. Because the claims are not limited to Crown lands, however, and cover a wide range of private property rights and interests, the negotiations are extremely complex.
“We’re dealing with numerous interest groups as diverse as municipalities, businesses, cottagers’ associations, off-trail associations, snowmobile associations and the Crown,” Potts said.
The Algonquins have claimed the land for some 250 years, with their claims dating back to 1763. Their rights have never been extinguished by treaty. The Algonquins first petitioned the Crown in 1772, to no avail, and a handful of petitions over the next two centuries met a similar fate.
“The Algonquins fought for the British, who recognized their contributions, but never got around to acting on the claims,” Potts said. “It’s been a nightmare since.”
The current negotiations started in 1991 but fell apart in 2001. The parties ultimately came together again, but the process has been arduous, finally producing an agreement in principle (AIP) in October 2016.
The agreement would give the Algonquins of Ontario at least 47,550 hectares of provincial Crown lands, representing about 12 per cent of all Crown land in the disputed area. The agreement specifies that no private land will be taken and that no one will lose access to their property.
“Still, the AIP makes the Algonquins of Ontario one of the largest landholders in Ontario apart from the government,” Potts said.
The federal and provincial government will also provide at least $300 million in funding that will flow into a non-taxable entity. Some 10 communities situated on the transferred lands will be the beneficiaries. The Algonquins of Ontario are currently working on a governance structure, including a constitution that will be part of a final agreement.
But the agreement is non-binding, and the current work plan contemplates at least another five years of negotiations. The process has moved along, but slowly, over the 12 months since it was signed.
“The complications arise from the large variety of groups, each of which have their own issues relating to what are very concentrated areas throughout the province,” Potts said.
For example, the status of Camp Island on Trout Lake, near North Bay, remains unclear. The Island has been identified in the AIP. The Algonquins of Ontario want the province to cede it because of its traditional uses and heritage value. But the island has long been a recreational destination that members of the public and local municipalities are loath to give up. Private landowners in the settlement area are also anxious to have a buffer between their properties and the Aboriginal land.
The province held public meetings about the issue in September. Negotiators hope the issue can be resolved with some form of landsharing arrangement. But Camp Island is only one of many locations where the daily lives of the population will be impacted by the final treaty.
Divisions among First Nations, which led to the breakdown of negotiations in 2001, are also looming. Four Algonquin First Nations in Ontario are challenging the Algonquins of Ontario’s claims. The dissenters say the claims that are the subject of the agreement overlap more than 364,000 hectares of territory they claim for themselves.
Algonquin bands in Quebec are seeking compensation as well. They maintain that the provincial border between Quebec Algonquins and Ontario Algonquins is artificial for the purpose of settling land claims because the borders did not exist in the pre-colonial era.
And quite apart from the direct day-to-day impact that Aboriginal title issues have on local populations, their effect on the country on the whole should not be underestimated.
“Almost every industry dealing with land, air or water assets is dealing with Aboriginal issues, which becomes a competitive issue in attracting foreign investment and in job creation,” says Tom Isaac, an Aboriginal law expert in Cassels, Brock & Blackwell LLP’s Vancouver office. “What may seem like an obscure area of the law gets real very quickly when you’re on a deal of that kind.”
The Algonquins fought for the British, who ... never got around to acting on the claims. It’s been a nightmare since.