Dakota Tipi First Nation sues Ottawa for $475M over airbase land

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This article was published 09/11/2023 (728 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The federal government is being sued for allegedly wrongfully taking land from Dakota Tipi First Nation to build a Second World War airbase near Portage la Prairie.

The southern Manitoba First Nation has launched a lawsuit asking for the return of the land where the Southport Aerospace Centre is now located, in a partnership, as well as $475 million in damages and aggravated, exemplary and punitive damages.

Dakota Tipi Chief Dennis Pashe, band lawyer Faron Trippier, and a federal government spokesperson could not be reached for comment Thursday.

In a statement of claim filed earlier this week in Manitoba Court of King’s Bench, the First Nation says when the federal government built the air field around 1940, it was done without Dakota Tipi agreeing or ceding its land rights.

The First Nation says the land includes not only the historic Old Sioux Village but also its present-day traditional territory.

Historically, the land was used not only for harvesting, but also hunting, fishing, ceremony and burial sites, the lawsuit says.

“They were wrongfully forced to relocate by Canada,” the documents say.

“There was no surrender to the Crown, no extinguishment of rights, and there is no treaty addressing Dakota Tipi Nation’s rights and title regarding their unceded territory… Canada failed to recognize Aboriginal rights and consult with the Dakota Tipi Nation during the original development of the Canadian Forces Base on the land and then again in 1990, in advance of the transfer to (Southport Aerospace Centre).

“The Dakota Tipi Nation struggled to find suitable harvesting areas for sustenance and lodging.”

The lawsuit says Ottawa has agreed to issue an apology and a statement of recognition to the Dakota and Lakota people sometime this month.

For now, until the federal government begins negotiating, the First Nation wants the courts to issue an injunction to stop operations at Southport.

The First Nation also seeks compensation for alleged losses in several areas, including desecration of burial sites, loss of harvesting areas and destruction of ancestors’ residences, gardens, crops and businesses.

It also seeks aggravated damages, saying its “citizens have suffered and continue to suffer significant hardship, including financial hardship, loss of identity, generational trauma, and systemic racism.”

None of the claims have been proven in court. No statement of defence has yet been filed.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca