Feb. 17, 2022: Aboriginal Law Report: Lethbridge NewsNow – In an update to the Big Claim appeal, the Blood Tribe will take the matter to the Supreme Court of Canada. The appeal was filed by the Canadian Government from the decision of the Federal Court, finding that the trial judge determined that under the terms of the Blackfoot Treaty, the Blood Tribe was entitled to a reserve of 710 square miles. That area is 162.5 square miles larger than the current reserve.

“Canada appealed on the basis that the claim was barred by Alberta’s Statute of Limitations,” the Blood Tribe release reads. The Court of Appeal sided with Canada, saying the Blood Tribe’s claim for “breach of treaty” was limitation barred.

The Big Claim was set out in three parts as follows:

1. The Blood Tribe claimed that Canada failed to fulfill its Blackfoot Treaty obligation to provide one square mile of reserve land for each five members of the Blood Tribe (the Treaty Land Entitlement).
2. The Blood Tribe claimed the lands between the St. Mary and Kootenay Rivers, to the mountains and the International Boundary as its reserve.
3. The Blood Tribe claimed that its reserve was established by the 1882 Nelson survey, which surveyed the southern boundary of the reserve five miles further south than it is currently, which would add approximately 100 square miles to the reserve.

On June 12, 2019, the Federal Court’s findings agreed with the Blood Tribe’s claim that there was an outstanding Treaty obligation, and that the Tribe is owed a further 162.5 square miles based on the population at the time.

Previously, Justice Zinn, in his decision, found that Canada shortchanged the band when the boundaries were drawn as part of 1877’s Treaty 7. He stated the Blood Tribe was entitled under the Treaty Land Entitlement formula to a reserve of 710 square miles, whereas the current reserve is 547.5 square miles. Canada is liable to the Blood Tribe for this breach of Treaty.

Blood Tribe officials say the next step is to take the matter to the Supreme Court of Canada for an application for “leave to appeal.” The Blood Tribe release states, “Canada acknowledges their past misdeeds and the severe impact on First Nations but then refuse[s] to address their breaches in any meaningful way, shielding themselves with provincial limitations.”