Page 15 - Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation

First Nations people

don’t own land in the same way

other Canadians do.

The Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation signed the First WORDS TO KNOW
Nations Land Management Act (FNLMA), which came into codes: sets of rules and laws
effect in 2000. This act allows our First Nation to opt out of
First Nation Resolution:
many codes in the Indian Act that restrict us from developing a record of a decision
made by a First Nation’s
the land the way we want to. This is an important step toward
councillors at a council
self-governance for us. While we cannot sell our land freely—all meeting
lands must remain part of the First Nation under this Act—we ratification: formal approval
have more power to develop and protect the lands than we did
under the Indian Act.

In order to sign on to the First Nations Land Management Act,
we had to take a number of steps as a community:

1. Our Chief and Council had to pass a First Nation Resolution
First Nations Land Management Act stating that we wanted to become part of the First Nations
Land Management Act.
Did you know that First Nations people don’t own land in the
same way other Canadians do? Our land is held by the Crown. 2. Due to the fact that our land is owned by the Crown, the
We don’t hold land privately like people in our neighbouring federal government then had to approve this resolution.
communities. In surrounding towns and villages, people buy 3. We then had to sign a framework agreement. This The framework is called a
or sell title to parcels of land. Title is registered and managed agreement sets out many, but not all, of the things each framework because it has
by the government of Ontario. For instance, if a family in Port group agrees to, such as how disagreements will be settled information, but many of the
Perry owns a house, they most likely purchased the land that and time frames. details are yet to come. This
is like a house frame, where
the house sits on. This family can sell this land to others freely or
4. While signed on to the framework agreement, we information such as where the
keep it and pass it along to someone else. rooms are located is visible, but
developed our land code. The land code includes all of the
not all the details are clear. The
In our First Nations communities, we have families who hold a processes and procedures used in managing our lands. house frame does not show
Certificate of Allocation for the parcel of land their house sits on, the wall colours, or the kind of
5. Our members then voted on our agreement in a
but Certificate of Allocation is not quite like title. We can sell our finishing touches that might
ratification vote. be used to make the house
parcel only to other members of our First Nation. We can lease
a home.
our parcel to anyone, including people who are not members of Once we ratified our land code, the First Nations Land
our First Nation. Management Act was enacted in 1999.

Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation 13

ogemawahj_community_book4.indd 13 2019-02-27 10:39 AM