Page 61 - Chippewas of Rama First Nation
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Land Claims
What is a land claim? A land claim is a claim made by a First
Nations community that the Crown (the federal government)
has not lived up to its promises with respect to a community’s
legal rights to own a parcel of land. Land claims also refer to
settlements that are being negotiated over unceded land.
WORDS TO KNOW
The issue of who “owns” the land is a sensitive one. According
unceded land: territory that
to our beliefs, no one can own the land. Therefore, we could
has not been formally granted
not have surrendered something that was not ours to begin through the signing of a treaty,
with. However, in modern-day circumstances, our people are but is occupied under an
informal agreement with the
crowded onto a small portion of our traditional territory, Rama federal government
First Nation. This does not provide us with the land we need to
become a community that can take care of ourselves.
To grow and prosper as a First Nation, our traditional lands
must be returned to us, or compensation received for them. The
agreements signed by the Crown must be honoured as we have
honoured them on our side.
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