Canada makes $1.72-billion cows-and-plows settlement with 14 Sask. First Nations

The federal government is compensating more than a dozen Saskatchewan First Nations for agricultural benefits promised in treaties signed long ago, but never provided. 

It has also reached a separate agreement with Cumberland House Cree Nation on a land claim. 

Federal Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Gary Anandasangaree said at a news conference Friday that the 14 First Nations involved in the agricultural settlement will get a combined $1.72 billion.

"We have an opportunity today as a country and as a people to make sure that we reset the relationship for the next generation," Anandasangaree said.

These are the latest examples of what's known as cows-and-plows settlements. 

The treaties made promises including hand tools such as spades, scythes and axes, as well as bigger equipment like plows, harrows and pit saws, to be shared among families. Many of these promises were never fulfilled.

"We're currently building our nation basically from the ground up, because we have long been denied our benefits under treaty," Chief Robert Head of Peter Chapman Band, which is part of James Smith Cree Nation, said. 

Head's First Nation will receive about $46 million. He said that the money will be used for trusts, payments to members and infrastructure.

"We weren't allowed to leave the reserves unless we had a permit or a pass. We weren't allowed to sell, you know, the produce that we grew on our reserves," Head said. 

"Residential schools, the Sixties Scoop and, you know, all the other policies … all point to genocidal policies of the Canadian government."

Head said that the compensation is justice that was long overdue, since the treaties were signed over 150 years ago. 

Tanya Aguilar-Antiman Chief of Mosquito-Grizzly Bear's Head-Lean Man First Nation said that the settlement is an action-based example of reconciliation. 

"We've committed some resources to our language, and economic development is a big thing in our community right now," Aguilar-Antiman said.

Her First Nation will be getting around $114 million. She said some of the money will be put in trust for children under 18, so that when they turn 18 they get a good head start.