SUMMARY:
• Lac Seul First Nation has won an appeal to have damages reviewed for historical flooding on its lands and confirming the Crown’s fiduciary duties to Indigenous peoples.
• The Supreme Court of Canada on July 16, 2021 ruled the Government of Canada breached its fiduciary obligation to protect the reserve land at Lac Seul First Nation when the governments of Canada, Manitoba and Ontario decided without consent or consultation with the community to flood the reserve with the construction of a hydroelectric dam in 1929.
• More than 11,000 acres of Lac Seul First Nation were flooded, destroying nearly one-fifth of the reserve lands. Homes and fields were destroyed. Graves were submerged and portions of the reserve were severed from one another.
• In an action initiated by Lac Seul First Nation in 1991, the community claimed damages from the Crown for losses caused to it and its members as a result of the flooding.
• Lac Seul First Nation is now entitled to equitable compensation for the lost opportunity to determine the use of their land at the time the hydroelectricity project was developed.