Expert Panel Submissions Specific Claims Review Tsuu T ina Nation

Transcription

1 Expert Panel Submissions Specific Claims Review Tsuu T ina Nation

2 Location of Tsuu T ina Nation relative to Calgary Tsuu T ina Nation 145

3 Tsuu T ina Nation Tsuu T'ina Nation is in southern Alberta, Canada a signatory of Treaty 7. The Tsuu T ina Nation reserve borders the City of Calgary to the northeast, east and southeast, the Municipal District of Foothills No. 31 to the south and Rocky View County to the west and north. It is bound by 37 Street SW to the east, 146 Avenue SW to the south and Highway 22 and Wintergreen Road (Range Road 52) to the west, while Highway 8 is generally within 0.8 km (0.50 mi) of the reserve's northern boundary.[4] The Hamlet of Bragg Creek is adjacent to the southwest corner of the reserve within Rocky View County across Highway 8.which is adjacent to Calgary s southwest limits.

4 Issues with Specific Claims, the Specific Claims Tribunal and the Specific Claims Tribunal Act

5 Financial Resources Canada has withdrawn all kinds of resources from specific claims Cuts to claims research units the end of the claims research process end the claims backlog by making sure no new claims come into the system Cuts to library and archives Canada has made getting access to documents challenging Destruction of documents and Redacted information increased ATIP costs All this seems to indicate a lack of intent to negotiate meaningfully at the pre-tribunal stage

6 Misuse of the Tribunal by Canada Use by Canada as an alternative to negotiation Take or leave it offers Low ball offers Behaving at negotiation tables in a way that invites First Nations to go to the Tribunal and then once they get there the Crown uses a vast amount of resources to avoid settlement

7 Misuse of the SCTA provisions by Canada New minimum standard provision in the SCTA used by Canada to dramatically increase the work involved in preparing a claim the legislation says reasonable but it is not

8 Excluded Claims, Partial Acceptance Need a better process for the resolution of TLE Claims Smaller claims that hinge on TLE claims cannot go forward without dealing first with TLE claims (attempts by Canada to settle smaller claims in a way that might compromise the eventual settlement of larger more substantive claims)

9 Excluded Claims Partial Acceptance 2 Canada has reduced backlog by eliminating certain categories of claims ie. living up to key treaty promises claims of an ongoing and variable nature have been eliminated Traditional mode of life promises in treaty as an excluded category is particularly problematic

10 Stall Tactics and Bad Faith 1 Making it difficult to access documents TLE Claims asking FNs to deal with smaller claims without first having an avenue to resolve larger claims (TLE) Increased rate of rejection = false or misleading backlog statistics Partial acceptances requiring broad releases (indemnity on entire claim) Confidentiality Agreements to keep details of bad faith tactics from the SCT

11 Stall Tactics and Bad Faith 2 Prohibition on New Evidence No Negotiations unilateral imposition of terms Negotiation capacity funding has been cut Refusing to fund valuation/expert reports Sharp Dealing changing negotiators changing positions changing mandates expert reports agreed to at the table and paid to by FNs that become useless because the mandate or requirements change Unwillingness to stand behind expert reports / valuation reports

12 Recommendations 1 Completely revise the Specific Claims process so that stage one is effective make the negotiation stage meaningful could use the SCT involvement to ensure Canada stops using methods such as partial acceptance and minimum standards to negotiate in bad faith? Allow FNs to go straight to the Tribunal

13 Recommendations 2 Tribunal s jurisdiction should be broadly stated so that some claims are not unnecessarily excluded let the First Nation advance their claim in the way it wants to Make it easy to get access to ICC records that have been archived

14 Recommendations 3 Maintain the independence of the SCT Additional Resources for the SCT More judges Mediation/negotiation supported by the SCT earlier in the process SCT would require more support for this

15 Eagle Law Group