Carry the Kettle takes province, feds to court
- EFN Staff | January 18, 2018
Carry the Kettle Nakoda Nation has filed a claim against Saskatchewan and Canada for infringing their Treaty 4 rights. The community leaders and members filed a lawsuit against the federal and provincial government over traditional lands that are being occupied by agricultural and industrial development.
Carry the Kettle asserts that Canada and Saskatchewan must stop violating the promises it made to Carry the Kettle in Treaty 4 and instead must honour the Treaty and protect Carry the Kettle’s way of life. The First Nation is being represented by JFK Law in this matter.
When Canada signed Treaty 4 it promised Carry the Kettle that their way of life would be maintained. In turn Carry the Kettle agreed to share the land with the Crown to allow for some settlement and development. Carry the Kettle asserts that it has upheld its promises but Canada and Saskatchewan have taken so much of Carry the Kettle’s land for settlement, farming and resource development that its way of life is in danger of being forever lost.
Chief Elsie Jack said their ancestors abided by the Treaty and kept the promises that were made to the newcomers and settler governments.
“Our ancestors stood by those commitments. The current Carry the Kettle Council and community continue to uphold our Treaty obligations. This cannot be said of the Crown,” said Chief Jack in a media release. “The governments of Saskatchewan and Canada failed to uphold the honour of the Crown, its obligations and binding Treaty commitments. We feel we no longer have any other recourse, are compelled to act and appeal to the courts for justice and to help set things right.”
Carry the Kettle believes it is not too late for the governments to work with them to find ways to co-exist and respect each other’s rights to live on these shared lands.
Councillor Kurt Adams of Carry the Kettle said this case will be a long-term struggle for their people, this Council, future Councils. Community member of Carry the Kettle will not step back from this until justice has run its course.
“Successive Saskatchewan governments and corporations that operate under its approvals have shown nothing but utter contempt of our Treaty, Canada’s highest laws and our people. It ends here,” said Adams. “We do this to restore a better balance between nature and development, between the rights of settlers and our people and to the relationship between the Crown and our Nation. Our hope and aim is that a better future awaits our people and all people of Saskatchewan and all those who live on and share this home.”
The claim was filed last month by Carry the Kettle through Regina Court of Queen’s Bench and the trial will be figured out down the road, Janes said.
“Arrangements have been made to have the hearings, not just in the cities, but actually at the First Nations community. That’s certainly something we will be exploring,” said lead counsel, Robert Janes of JFK Law.
Janes said the leading problem with this case is that Carry the Kettle were promised the rights to hunting, fishing and trapping as stated in the Treaty 4 agreement.
“Carry the Kettle is bringing forward the claim to say the Government of Canada and the government of Saskatchewan while the treaties certainly allowed settlement and a certain amount of development; it’s gone too far,” said Janes in a media teleconference scrum. “The time has come for the First Nation and the government to sit down and to a fair way to share the land.”
Janes said there are different types of development including pipelines (Enbridge and PCL) and agricultural development in the Carry the Kettle area. He added they want to try get a court order so that the government can work with the First Nations to address some of these issues in a tangible way.
“We’ve also asked to the extent there are Crown lands left in the area, that there be a halt for the development or alienation of those Crown lands so there’s something left for the First Nations,” he said.
Janes said the next major step will be the governments’ initial response to these claims.
“They’re in the process…they already got back to us saying they need more time to look at [the claim],” said Janes. “We will see what they come back with. The logical step would be for the leadership of the government of Canada and the government of Saskatchewan to reach out to Carry the Kettle and start some type of…dialogue. The ball is really in the governments’ court right now.”
Carry the Kettle’s traditional lands are primarily located in southern Saskatchewan. Their main reserve is situated near Indian Head.