Community accepts $99M settlement deal

Fort William First Nation members have voted overwhelmingly to accept a $99-million settlement from the federal government.

A ratification vote on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway settlement agreement was held last Saturday, with 98 per cent electing in favour of the deal.

The settlement stems from the 1905 appropriation of 650 hectares of the community’s traditional lands along the banks of the Kaministiquia River.

The takeover of the land is said to have been the largest railway land appropriation in Canadian history.

The relocation essentially divided the community, with members forced to relocate to either Squaw Bay or Mountain Village. They had to leave their homes, farms and property while the church and graveyard had to be uprooted with bodies exhumed to be hauled to the new site.