Fort William approves historic agreement

Fort William First Nation has voted 849 to 16 in favour of the $154 million Fort William First Nation Boundary Claim settlement offer.
“It was an excellent turnout of our eligible voters,” said Fort William First Nation Coun. Ian Bannon, noting six ballots were rejected and 24 set aside.
The community voted Jan. 22 on the joint federal-provincial settlement offer, which includes about $149 million from Canada and $5.1 million from Ontario in financial compensation and the transfer of provincial Crown lands on two islands located in Lake Superior – Flatland Island and Pie Island – to Canada to be set apart as reserve for the Fort William First Nation.
“There will be some individual distribution to our members, we will be using some of it to pay off debt and the balance will be put into investment trust,” Bannon said. “The revenue from those investments are structured so that it will be utilized for various categories such as health, economic development for the community.”
While most of the eligible voters voted for the settlement offer, Bannon said there had been some opposition.
“Prior to the vote, there was obviously some opposition, some concerns, some confusion,” Bannon said. “I think, for the most part it was the surrender matter because in many eyes they were thinking that we were giving up more land that we are currently occupying and that wasn’t the case.”
Bannon said the lands in question were supposed to be returned to the community many years ago but never were returned.
“It was a historical moment to sign those (settlement offer) documents,” Bannon said, noting the claim is the largest Fort William has entered into with Canada. “We’re going to be framing it and putting it alongside the 1850 Robinson-Superior (Treaty) agreement that ... we have in our council chambers.”