The Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister issued an apology Wednesday to the Peepeekisis Cree Nation. Mark Miller says, “On behalf of the Government of Canada, I am truly sorry for the harm, trauma and significant loss in agricultural land the community of Peepeekisis Cree Nation has experienced due to Canada’s role in the File Hills Colony Scheme.”

A news release from the Ministry explains that the scheme was in place from 1898 to 1954, where graduates from residential schools and industrial schools in Saskatchewan and Manitoba were involuntarily relocated to the Peepeekisis Cree Nation’s reserve. The federal Agent arbitrarily allocated agricultural land on reserve without the First Nation’s consent and without compensation.

It was just under a year ago the Cree Nation and the federal government concluded the settlement agreement regarding the File Hills Colony claim. The compensation agreed upon was $150-million and additions to reserve for Peepeekisis to purchase.

Chief Francis Dieter says the scheme not only displaced the Peoples of Peepeekisis from their lands but it also displaced the graduates from their homes and families in their own Nations. “The File Hills Colony Scheme left a legacy of division, however through the recent settlement and the acknowledgement of its wrongdoing, Canada’s apology to our Nation and our People, can allow us to move forward on our path to healing our Nation and becoming one People of Peepeekisis.”

The First Nation is located 43 kilometres southwest of Melville.