WEBVTT

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[music]

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[music]

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François Paulette is home.

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A Chipewyan Indian, he knows
this Northern Alberta landscape,

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the way other Canadians know their
backyards. François belongs

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to the Thebatthi Dene, the head of the
rapids people, who for more than a century

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had been fighting for the return of
their ancestral lands promised them

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by the Government of Canada in Treaty 8.

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François is the chief negotiator

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of today’s land claim. His ancestors
drew their life from this land,

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the land that gives his
people their identity.

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[music]

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Now for the business of the day.

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The payment of Treaty. Back at the agent’s
tent, the crisp new dollar bills are counted,

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parceled out, and passed across the table
to the eager brown hands of the tribesmen.

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This footage was shot for the
Department of Indian Affairs

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in the 1920s.

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To each chief, $25. To each headman,

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$15. And to every other
Indian of whatever age, $5.

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To be paid only to heads of
families for the members thereof.

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[music]

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Here you go. Happy Treaty Day.

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Some travel for a week, two weeks,
three weeks, just to pick up their $5.

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It symbolizes our commitment to honoring
the spirit and intent of Treaty 8,

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that we allowed Europeans to coexist
with us, to live side by side

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as equals in terms of nations to nation.

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[music]

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François brother,

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Jerry Paulette, leads his people in the ceremony
that honors the treaty as the people remember it.

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It’s been 83 years since their
ancestors first asked Ottawa

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to live up to its terms.
They honor an agreement

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between two peoples. It would be nice, you know,
for the Crown to fulfill its lawful obligations.

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They can’t keep dodging aboriginal
peoples, First Nations.

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We got to be fair with them. And once, you
know, First Nations have what they want,

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it’s not like they’re going to keep going to
ask for ask it, to ask for it, to ask for it.

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People want to get on with life.

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[music]

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This is the Department of Indian Affairs,

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home of the massive bureaucracy that administers
the lives of Canada’s First Nations.

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Its filing cabinets and shelves are filled
with more than 400 unresolved land claims.

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At the present rate of settling
- about seven a year -

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some of these will still
be here in 50 years.

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By the summer of 1998,

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hotel rooms have lost their appeal for
François, the 51-year-old father of seven.

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François has been coming to
Ottawa most of his adult life.

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Who are you? I’m François.

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Oh, François! From? Yeah. Right
on the border between Alberta

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and the North West territories. You heard of Wood Buffalo National Park?
Yes. Yeah, that’s where I come from. For ah… So, you are the real Canadians.

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Yeah. So we’re still working on that. Very nice.
Yes. I’m glad to meet a real Canadian finally. Yeah.

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Hours are spent trying to get through

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to the Department of Indian Affairs.
In 1989,

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the Smith’s Landing band asked me to be their
chief negotiator. I’ve been coming here now

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for the last several years,

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to force Canada to fulfill
the lawful obligation that

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the treaties were made over 100 ago.
Very straightforward.

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We’ve asked for reserves since 1916, that’s
83 years ago, and that hasn’t happened.

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[music]

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What a life!

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In Edmonton, a decade of land claim files

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surrounds the band’s lawyer, Jerome Slavik.

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There were promises and commitments made to First
Nations’ people when they entered into Treaty 8.

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And after 100 years, those
promises haven’t been met.

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So, what is important, what’s at
stake here, is a fair settlement.

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[music]

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Okay. I just wanna know who the players
are gonna be at the meeting today.

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The Department of Indian Affairs has become

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an economy on its own. It’s become

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a huge bureaucracy. They
can just pull the strings

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and Indians will adjust to how long that string
is gonna be or how short that string is gonna be.

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It’s a very difficult
situation that I’m in.

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But I’m not just one Indian that
is having this… this problem.

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There is over 600 bands up there, and every chief that
comes here has to walk through that maze of bureaucracy.

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The reason it’s taken so long is the
government devotes very little resource

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to settlement of claims. They have a very small treaty
entitlement settlement budget. They’re understaffed,

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both in terms of lawyers and
government officials. And so,

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to be able to get their attention and to get enough of
their resources focused on a claim to get it settled,

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takes a huge, huge expensive
effort in the part of our clients.

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There’s policies here, there’s policies
there. We gotta go to the 14th floor

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to go and talk about a policy. Or they
will take you from there and say,

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”Well, you’re not really our problem, but you’re
the region’s problem, you’re Alberta’s problem.”

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Sometimes I come here and I
figure I’ve gained one yard.

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I come back the following
months and I realize that

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that one yard I’ve gained has pushed
me back a couple of yards back,

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and I… and I have to start over it.
This is like a game.

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And as I’m getting older, well, my
energy is not what it used to be.

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François has outlasted three
ministers of Indian Affairs

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and five Department negotiators. He’s
here to meet the sixth, Tim Christian,

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former Dean of Law at the
University of Alberta.

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It’s a complex process - very, very complex
- because there are so many players.

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On their side, of course, they have the whole
political relationship to manage. On our side,

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we have to deal with… with Ottawa.

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And the department is a vast
and complex organization.

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I’ve done a lot of negotiating over
the years in different settings.

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I’ve done a lot of mediation and arbitration
and dispute-resolving and that sort of thing.

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I was Dean of Law School for 10 years. And I thought
I knew all there was to know about bureaucracy.

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But, I can tell you, I’ve… I’ve
learned a lot in the last while

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dealing with Ottawa. And it’s my job
to figure out how to deal with them.

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How do I get my proposal through
the system? I’ve got a proposed

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way of going about this and… And I have
to go through documents after documents

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that were provided to me by Canada, why
they should not give us the settlement.

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That’s very frustrating, very demeaning.

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I’ve committed myself to do this.

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And there’s a cost to that. There
is a cost for me coming here,

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because I’ve got to give up what is
happening at home for the time I’m here.

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[music]

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Sharing that cost for 20 years has been
Leslie Paulette, a Mohawk from Montreal.

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You get used to it, but it takes its toll.
You know, it’s wearing,

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it’s very wearing. You know, François is
on the road usually at least two weeks

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out of every month, if not
more sometimes lately. And,

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you know, so it means I single parent. I
mean, I just kind of… I’m, most of the time,

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in single parent mode. And when he comes
back home, I kind of have to make allowances

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for him being around! You know? It’s kind of because
I’ve got used to doing everything on my own, you know,

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and it’s hard on kids. Their dad is not here,
you know, as much as they would like him to be.

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[music]

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There’s a lot of history here, even though it’s not…
it’s not written. It’s written in all this river

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that goes through here. To see
no human being doesn’t mean that

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there’s nothing there. A whole
history lies beneath us

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when we’re flying over that. It kind of reminds
me of, I’m just another page in a book

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that describes who we are as a people.

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In the Chipewyan language,

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the Slave River is called
Dene Tha’, the Grand River.

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The people who could best navigate
the river were the Indians.

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They prospered when fir traders
built posts here 200 years ago.

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Carrying loads as heavy as 180 kilograms,

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they portaged very article

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that was shipped to the North,
26 kilometers, around four sets

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of deadly rapids.

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[music]

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My grandfather used to say, you know,
from sweat off the people’s faces

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from hacking over that portage,
that it would be just like

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it had rained on the sand, from sweat.

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[sil.]

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At the end of the 19th century, the
community was named Fort Fitzgerald,

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after a North-West mounted policeman.
Then the Royal Geological Survey

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found minerals and oil in
the Chipewyan homeland.

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Gold was discovered in the Klondike,
and white adventurers streamed North.

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The Indians expected to share

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in the prosperity. Instead, the government
sent Treaty Commission Number 8

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to take title to their land.

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The commission was charged
with securing for the Crown

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a vast area of north western Canada,
nearly a million square kilometers.

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It was lead by David Laird, a former Lieutenant
Governor of the North-West Territories

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who’d been Ottawa’s Senior Treaty
Commissioner for 20 years.

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When David Laird came to Lesser Slave Lake,

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and on the 20th of June,
began to explain the details

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of the… the proposed treaty to the
people there. He was quite adamant that

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the Queen owns the country. Period.
But she is willing to

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undertake settlement with those
people whose ancestors had occupied

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the land for generations.
However, as Commissioner Ross

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explained to them, the fact of the matter is, the
white man will come in and develop your country.

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So unless you accept the terms
that are offered to you,

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you will get nothing. So they
didn’t have much of a choice.

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Laird had previously engineered the surrender
of the Black Foot lands to the South,

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from people devastated by
disease and starvation.

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Here it was different. The Indians
were established partners

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in the commerce of the North.
The land was so vast

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and its occupants so diverse,
the treaty party split in two.

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They had to travel North for weeks to
reach the land at the Thebatthi Dene.

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The lifestyle that they had,
about the time of treaty,

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was very much a lifestyle that they
developed in the past century.

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It was not what we might think of as a
pre-contact or aboriginal lifestyle

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before Europeans arrived. But, of course,
when the treaty commissioners came in 1899,

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they looked at these people and they
thought, “Where are the Indians?”

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[music]

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A family-centered people,
the Chipewyan asked

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Mary Heron’s grandfather, Pierre Squirrel,
a head man and accomplished hunter,

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to speak for the community. The commission
assured to Squirrel and his people,

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the treaty would protect their way
of life as long as the rivers flow

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and the grass grows.

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They promised us land,

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a land-base where we can build our
communities. They promised us

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a way of life that we can carry
out our obligation of hunting,

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tracking, fishing and gathering.
It promised us housing.

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It promised us that our religion
will not be interfered with.

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It promised us that our old
people would be looked after.

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On July 17th, 1899,

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Pierre Squirrel placed
his mark on Treaty 8.

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Raphael Kree, 108 years old,

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is the only person still alive
who saw the Treaty signed.

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Yeah. They broke all the promises.

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Broke every one of them,
that’s what he just said.

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That treaty was based on

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sovereignty between two nations.
That to me is the

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most important part of the treaty, because it guaranteed
us our sovereignty, they guaranteed us a future,

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a future where our nationhood

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would survive, not just in this century,

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but in a next millennium,
so we can maintain

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who we are as a people and as a nation.

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Ottawa’s response to request for reserve
land was the Indian Act of 1927,

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making it illegal for bands
to pursue a land claim.

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For the next 24 years, no
Indian people in Canada

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could hire a lawyer to challenge
the government’s position.

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In the years that followed, Ottawa
would impose hunting and fishing laws

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and create Wood Buffalo National Park.

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[music]

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Seventeen years after the signing - their way of
life slipping away - the people of Fort Fitzgerald

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turned to Treaty 8. One provision
of the treaty was a commitment

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to provide a square mile
for each family of five

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to be set aside upon the
request of the community.

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In 1916, the elders agreed
it was time to ask for land

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to protect their way of life.
Ottawa said no.

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In the years that followed,

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they would ask four more times.
They’re still asking.

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One of the things that governments do

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is they tend to rewrite history to their own
liking and to meet their own expeditious political

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and policy needs. And so, for years, they deliberately
chose to ignore the history of Smith’s Landing.

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Don’t kid yourself that dealing with these
guys in the department over last many years

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has been a callous, manipulative,
conniving game at times.

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It makes Alice in Wonderland
or Franz Kafka right at home.

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You’ve got to be persistent. You’ve got to not be rude.
But you’ve got to be persistent and unrelenting.

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You know, where we don’t have clients like that, their
claims sit, sometimes for years, and then don’t care.

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They, being the government, they don’t
care. They’re not coming to you to settle.

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By the fall of 1998,

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the band’s insistence that the treaty be
honored is finally getting Ottawa’s attention.

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The department suggests the band begins
selecting parcels of reserve land.

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They focus on the Slave River.

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Controlling its shoreline would give them some control
over future dams the government might wish to build.

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François works with band
elders to choose the sites.

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[sil.]

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The band council

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settles on seven pieces of reserve
land and a financial package

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to compensate for their 82-year wait.
They include the banks of the Slave River

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and five other tracts that combine
historic and spiritual significance

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with economic potential. But first,
the council must have the community

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ratify its choices.

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In terms of the programs and services funding,
it’s a separate pot of funding that comes annually

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from the Department of Indian Affairs.
And because

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not a lot of our people live on a reserve, the
funding is gonna be very small in the beginning.

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We know that we can never bring back

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the old ways. We know that things will never be
the way they were 100 years ago or 200 years ago

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or 300 years ago or even 30 years ago.
But we know that

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the land is part of us, we’re part of it.
So, we do have

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entitlement and we do have the right

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to the land and the resources.

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The membership gives Jerry and
François the support they need,

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but the band now faces another obstacle.
In 1932, a federal provincial transfer

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gave the province of Alberta title to
most of the land the band has chosen.

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The province will have to support
its return to federal jurisdiction.

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The next meeting will be in Edmonton,
where Tim Christian is joined by the

00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
province’s Ken Boutillier. François
knows the province’s track record

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
for settling Indian land claims is
one of the best in the country.

00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
He needs the province on side. I think though,
there’s been a tremendous amount of work.

00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
I think there’s, what, five or six sites
that we have essential agreement on.

00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
But we don’t see major problems.
Subject, I guess, to, as always, to…

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
to satisfaction of third party interests.
This is the main portion here.

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
This is the, right up by the border of Smith
here, Fort Fitz is here. This is the property.

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
This is the question… question mark now.

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
The road to Pine Lake is Salt River Bridge.
Pine lake is,

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
there’s no problem there.

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
But we have – one… one, two, three, four,

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
five, six, seven - seven sites.

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
So Ken, how are you on… how are you on these
sites? Is the province okay with these?

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
Yeah, I think for the most part. The Pine Lake site, I think
the only concern we’ve got is, is the maintenance to the road,

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
through there and that’s… there’s no… I don’t
think there’s any dispute over that. Okay.

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
The number of sites is not an issue,
but now there’s a new problem.

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
Another thing that came on
a table was third parties.

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
There are three major diamond
companies that are on our territory.

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
And we have to clear them up. And
they were asking not $1 exchange,

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
they’re asking a phenomenal
fee to clear that up.

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
That’s another… That’s another burden.
We shouldn’t have to deal with that.

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
But at the same time, we have to, because
some of these neighbors are our friends.

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
It’s been my experience at each claim,
through the hard work of its proponents,

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
there’s a certain timeframe within which
that claim emerges to be settled.

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
There’s kind of an unwritten priority list in Ottawa.
And you work your way to the top of that priority list

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
through overcoming various policy
hurdles and political hurdles.

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
And our clients have been working at this for seven years,
and they’re now near the top of the settlement list.

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
It’s impossible for someone
like me to understand

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
the depth of the connection with the land.

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
To imagine being in a place

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
where since time immemorial,

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
your ancestors have lived. It’s something that we don’t have. We’re all
from somewhere else, and only a short time ago, relatively speaking.

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
[music]

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
The band’s history is
inseparable from the land.

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
Mary Heron returns to the Rock
Bluff above Fort Fitzgerald,

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
she has visited since she was a girl.

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
You should have seen the caribou out there. Right
away I pulled my grandmother, “I’m gonna go.”

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
I grabbed this little rabbit gun and
she said, “My poor granddaughter,

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
you’ll never get nothing with that gun”, she
said. There were just 22 shots you used in it.

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
I hopped on my snowshoes and I went. I did a caribou.
So I came back, my grandmother and I went out,

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
and we skinned it and cut meat
and she said, “We save a thigh

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
for your grandfather for when he comes
back and your dad and your brother.”

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
Well, that was good. Dad and my brother came back. And of
course, you know, they cooked this meat up at my first kill.

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
Grandpa came back just before Christmas
and he said, “That’s for you,” he said.

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
Here was a 22 special that
he had bought for me.

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
I was proud as a peacock. Now I can
really hunt! And it was a good life.

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
But the good life was about to end.

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
In 1961, a directive from the
Department of Indian Affairs

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
would destroy what remained
of Fort Fitzgerald.

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
The whole band that I belonged to were moved,
literally moved from Fitzgerald to Smith -

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
lock, stock and barrel. For the
Indian Affairs’ convenience

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
so they can administer Indians
in Fort Smith, the only reason.

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
[music]

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
The church, the government
worked hand in hand

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
to devour our culture, our identity.

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
And it took a lot of resistance
by people, like myself,

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
that went to the mission school and
to come out of that system alive.

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
[music]

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
The department declared
that Fitzgerald families,

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
a sub-band of the Fort
Smith Salt River people.

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
The relocation would devastate François’
community, stripping away what little

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
sense of identity they had left.
When I came to this community,

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
I had a very… it was a sad sense, a
kind of bleak sense of people here

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
who didn’t have that strong sense of
where they were in their own community.

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
I felt so much that François’
people felt kind of marginalized.

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
They had a strong sense of where they had
come from, but not a strong sense anymore

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
of where they were in this community.

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:18.000
[sil.]

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
Twenty years after the forced relocation,
François and Leslie returned to Fort Fitzgerald

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
to build a house near where
his father had lived.

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
You know, what keeps me
going is also my father

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
that I look back at. Gave me a lot of drive
and gave me a lot of knowledge and wisdom.

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
Though I never think that
anything is impossible,

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
everything is possible, he used to say.

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
When I was a young chief growing
up, I was very threatening.

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
I was very hostile. I had a lot of
resentments. I had a lot of anger.

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
And I didn’t really work. I couldn’t
function that way. And some day,

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
I may take the place as an elder, and I wanna be in
the position where I’m giving good positive advice.

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
[sil.]

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
I think identity and knowing you who are
is the most important factor in your life.

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
Like, I’m a recovering alcoholic
25 years, I’ll be 25 years

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
end of this… on end of this month during December. But
to have a healing that’s taking place in a good way,

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
or you’re talking to, you know, people
are not yelling or screaming at them

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
or fighting or, but working on your own personal
growth and at the same time your own family,

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
I think that’s what’s… I think
that is what’s happening here.

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
There’s a… There’s a new… There’s a
new growth. There’s a new kind of

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
a lifestyle that’s starting to take shape.

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
[music]

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
It’s January 1999. On
the road to Fort Smith,

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
François begins yet another
day-long journey to Ottawa.

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
There are a lot of people
I meet along the way.

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
This time around, as I
met this executive and a

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
lawyer woman from Calgary. She said,

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
”Well, why is that you Indians
do not have to pay tax?

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
”Well”, I said, “Do you understand the
treaties?” And she said ah… yes and no.

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
I said, “What is a treaty?”

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
Then she said, “Well,
that’s a contract between

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
either two people or a group of
people, can be between countries,

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
you know, between the nations.”
“Yes, exactly!” So I pulled out

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
the Treaty 8 text. On page
six of the Treaty 8 text,

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
the third paragraph, it says there,

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
”Indians, they would not be
taxed.” It’s black and white.

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
She immediately started backpedalling,
and saying, “Well, yes.

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
Well, if it is written as a treaty,
then maybe Canada should fulfill that.”

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
”Well”, I said, “That is
what I’ve been working on

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
for the last quarter of my life,
quarter century of my life.”

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
Taxation is just one example.

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
I think there are some
times when there is like

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
new players come on board. Those new players that
come on board and that we have to go back over stuff

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
that we’ve already done. And
that’s kind of frustrating.

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
Yeah. I understand that but, you know,
that’s the reality on my side of it.

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
We have clear support for this process.

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
But I have to work it through the system. It’s
frustrating. I mean, believe me, I’m frustrated myself.

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
But I think we’re getting there.
Well, I don’t think

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
the end is in doubt. It’s just the question
of how long it’s gonna take us to get there.

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
The political direction is clear.
The minister wants a deal.

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
The deputy minister wants a deal. The
trick is, working it through the system

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
and satisfying the people
who have responsibility

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
at the lower levels, if
I can put it that way.

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
It’s important to satisfy them, to ensure
that that they have what they need

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
in order to make this thing work. It’s been extremely
frustrating for the First Nation, I think,

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
because from their point of
view, it’s relatively simple.

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
They’ve tabled a proposal with me.
Why don’t I get authorities

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
to deal with their proposal, which
is of course a very sensible idea.

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
It’s difficult, I think, for them

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
to wait while Ottawa does its
thing with the proposal.

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
If this particular claim isn’t done in the next
year, it’s going to be a long time getting done.

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
The momentum is there. All
the homework has been done.

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
I mean, the hours and hours and studies,

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
and our clients have just persisted on this, and they’re
not going to let it go. They have a very profound vision

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
and strong sense of vision as to where they
want to go. And we’re going to close it.

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
Negotiations continue on the trip home.

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
The parties agree on how to
compensate third party interests.

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
But there is a catch.

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
The claim is too large for the current
membership. The band must make a choice,

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
reduce the claim or locate
members who have moved away.

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
[music]

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
Minus 40 in Fort Smith. The band council opens
an office in the back of a pizza parlor.

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
They now have the task of finding the members,
they’ve lost track of over the years.

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
Yeah. Anyway I was calling you just to remind you
of the meeting we’re having tomorrow evening.

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
Hey, it’s François. Is your mother there?

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
Yes. Is Karen employed with you?

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
Hey, Howard. It’s François.

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
Their search leads them Yellowknife,
Prince Albert, Vancouver, and Edmonton.

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
And you are? Roberta. Roberta.
François. Hi. Okay.

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
Hi, I’m Sharon. Sharon, hi.

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
It looks like your… She looks like
my Benita. That’s her mother.

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
I went through a lot of
different things for 40 years

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
trying to get into university, had
difficulty, lot of door slammed in my face.

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
But with this new development here, we have
a better chance of educating ourselves.

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
Would that cover my post-secondary then?
You would be eligible for this, yes.

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
So, I can apply for school right now
and go to school in September? Yeah.

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
The Dog River is the… is main highway.
In the summer time, that goes east.

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
That’s were Indians, our ancestors used to travel.
And when they go on and go to the barren lands,

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
this is the river that they had to take.

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
These are very strategic sites, ah. And up
on that hill, our ancestors are buried.

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
There’s a burial site up there. You can
still see some of the old burial grounds.

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
You know, some people are afraid that
they might lose what little they have

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
if they sign up, make that final decision
to become members of the Fitz band.

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
If I sign up, am I gonna lose out, you know?
Am I gonna be worse off than I am now?

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
[music]

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
The search is only partly successful.

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
To increase the band’s
profile, chief Jerry Paulette

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
decides to take a risk and borrows money
to construct a new hall in Fitzgerald.

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
[music]

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
For the first time in nearly 40
years, the community has a center.

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:38.000
[music]

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
When spring arrives, the band has new
members. It also has an unexpected crisis,

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
a much larger claim recently
settled in British Columbia

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
has generated hostile public response.
Suddenly, no one,

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
is at the top of Ottawa’s priority list.

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
In the way of the ancestors,
François builds a willow arbor

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
on the spot where Pierre Squirrel
rose to greet the treaty commission

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
exactly 100 years ago. He hopes to
convince the Minister of Indian Affairs

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
to come to Fort Fitzgerald,
to meet his people,

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
to put a human face to the last seven years
of lawyers, bureaucrats, and boardrooms.

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
Ottawa does not see this big river there.
They do not see the open sky like this there.

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
And I think it’s for them to look at nature

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
and, you know, its natural setting. Well, that’s very different,
because when you walk into an elevator, well, they don’t see that.

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
We’re gonna keep this whole
part open here to ensure

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
that when we… that when we recite
the… “As long as the sun shines,

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
the river flows and the grass grows,”
that the treaty is to be honored,

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
and that’s I think the
occasion for Saturday.

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
The band council has proposed
a memorandum of intent,

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
but it hasn’t yet reached the right desk
in Ottawa. This day, could change that.

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
[sil.]

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
Normally, a memorandum of intent is
maybe half a dozen or a dozen pages.

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
But this time, the federal government
decided that they’re gonna make it

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
50-some pages. It’s been through
23 drafts, seven lawyers,

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
an incredible number of federal officials.
It’s been an incredibly

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
long and frustrating process. You
know, I think every negotiation team

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
should be signed a set of therapists as well as
a set of lawyers. You know, it’s just crazy.

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
The minister declines
the band’s invitation,

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
but does send her Assistant
Deputy Minister, Bill Austin.

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
It’s not the kind of lifestyle
he’s accustomed to,

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
swarmed with mosquitoes
and Indians and so on.

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
Today is a tribute to Treaty 8
First Nations, who have patiently

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
prodded governments over the past
century to honor our obligations.

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
While much of this agreement has
been kept, there is no denying

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
our side of the partnership
sometimes fell short.

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
François’ strategy appears to pay off.

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
Ken Boutillier acknowledges that the
province feels a settlement is close.

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
What we find is often how
little people do know

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
about some of the history when you’re dealing
with the, what in fact is the implementation

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
or terms of the treaty, which we are when we’re
settling treaty land entitlement claims.

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
I think part the fact that
people, when people realize

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
the nature of the debt, you find there’s
much more support for settlement,

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
for fulfillment of those terms.

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
Two weeks later, the council is invited
to Edmonton, where a dozen other

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
successfully settled Alberta
land claims dominate the room.

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
Generally, I think we’re…

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
we’re consistent with… with a deal that I
should be able to take to the minister

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
and get him, get his approval. My sense is I
think we’re starting to get fairly close.

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
We probably got a couple of wrinkles
yet, but… I guess you guys aren’t into

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
handshakes, ah…

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
So, next meeting we’ll try and
finish this and we will… we can…

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
we can shake hands. Okay.

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
[music]

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
In this process, there is
no one dramatic meeting.

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
There is a series of meetings where you chip
away and chip away and revisit and chip away.

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
No one meeting has ever wrapped up a claim.

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
The pace is picking up. Ken
Boutillier is in back Fitzgerald,

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
another meeting. The
biggest part of the task,

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
in relation to the lands, we’ll be dealing with third parties.
And what I’d like to do is get started with that fairly quickly.

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
And what we’ll do is put together and
then we can work off maybe a chart

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
of what those list and what
those third parties are.

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
I’m so close to it. I can taste it.

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
I can feel it.

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
So, when do you think we’ll have a
handshake? Yeah. What does a handshake mean?

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
We have a deal or not? You and I
agreed on what we’re gonna recommend.

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
If you’re satisfied with
this, what we… Yeah.

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
…initially agreed up there.
I will recommend that.

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
Very nice, thank you.

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:18.000
[music]

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
I think about the future a lot. I think about all my neighbors and the
people that I grew up with, and the hope that they have, you know.

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
I wanna help be part of change.

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:43.000
[music]

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
When the community gathers for
the dedication of the hall,

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
a week later, they finally have something
to celebrate - the province is in.

00:40:55.000 --> 00:41:03.000
[music]

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
For administrative purposes,
Wood Buffalo National Park

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
will continue to have access to the… The next
morning, he’s back to the negotiating table,

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
this time with Parks Canada. The outstanding
issues with Ottawa are down to money

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
and access to Wood Buffalo National Park.

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
We will allow whether we, there’s access or
not. It’s outside of park’s jurisdiction.

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
So what are you trying to negotiate for?
What is it you’re trying to…

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
Yeah. I’m just trying to understand and make
you soften up on these other ones here, but…

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
They’re both veteran Indian
politicians and negotiators.

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
They know when to make a deal,
they know how to be pragmatic,

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
and they know what issues that they have to stick on,
and what issues they’re prepared to be flexible on.

00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
And that wisdom and
experience is invaluable.

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
In a conference call, Jerome tells the band
council, the BC claim is still an issue

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
and the window in Ottawa may be closing.
The band encourages Jerome

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
to ask Tim Christian to come back with
the government’s best and final offer.

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
The council decides to accept less money,

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
but not less land.

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
[sil.]

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
Four months later, François and
Jerry are invited to Ottawa.

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:43.000
[music]

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
One hundred years and two months, after
Pierre Squirrel was asked to sign a Treaty

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
he could not read, the head of the
Rapids people are back in Ottawa,

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
to sign a document they helped write.

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
In the last four months, four or
five months, I’ve been kind of

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
just humming and hawing wondering when
is this gonna really happen, when is…

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
when are you gonna sign off on this.

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
Well, I think that… I think I’m prepared
to do this at this very moment.

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
So, before you guys take back these papers,

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
maybe we should sign them.

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:38.000
[music]

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
François’ returns to the head of the Rapids, with
the job of getting his band a reserve almost done.

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:08.000
[music]

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
I can understand what he’s doing and what his work involves.
But for young children, it’s hard for them to understand.

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
It’s on such an abstract level. You know,
I remember when our older son was in,

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
well maybe grade one, and they had to do a little book,
you know, about my family and draw a picture of their mom

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
and say a little something about their dad. You know, he drew a
picture of me, you know. “This is my mom. Her name is Leslie.

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
She’s a midwife. This is my dad. His
name is François. He does nothing.”

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
[music]

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
Special recognition must be given to my brother François.
This settlement is a result of his lifetime of dedication

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
to the treaty rights of the First Nation.

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
To you, François, we all owe a
profound debt of gratitude.

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:13.000
[sil.]

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
On May 6th, 2000, after
ratifying the final settlement,

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
the Thebatthi Dene accept compensation from
the governments of Canada and Alberta,

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
of $33 million and nine
parcels of reserve land.

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:43.000
[sil.]

00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
Today, is an exhilarating day for me.

00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
Of all that years of work,
it’s just been funneled down

00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
to just a stroke of a pen.
It was just magnificent.

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:18.000
[music]