Whitecap Dakota Nation has become the first self-governing Indigenous nation in Saskatchewan after 13 years of negotiations with the government.
On Monday, the new Federal Minister of Crown Indigenous Relations, Gary Anandasangaree arrived in Whitecap Dakota Nation to celebrate the historic conversion of the self-governance agreement to a self-governance treaty with Chief Darcy Bear, and many of the Nation’s members.
Bear says the new treaty will give Whitecap jurisdiction over several matters including governance, land, natural resources, education, finances, health, and social services, and law on their reserve lands.
For example, before the treaty was signed, RCMP officers would not prosecute anyone based off of Whitecap’s laws. Now, the treaty enforces that provincial RCMP must prosecute their laws so the Nation can enforce them. Bear says since the Nation signed the self-governance agreement, their 70 per cent unemployment rate dropped to only 6 percent. He adds that improvements like these will be seen more and more often with the new treaty, effective September 1st.

Anandasangaree says the treaty is about making sure Whitecap’s youth are not denied their fundamental rights, and that their future is far better than their ancestors’.

Bear says in the 1800’s, Canada denied Whitecap Dakota Nation a treaty. Although their chief was present during that time, he was not invited to join. This treaty recognizes the Nation’s members as aboriginal people of Canada, and Bear looks forward to a new relationship with the country’s government.