About

Established in 1973, TARR is the research arm of the Grand Council Treaty 3 Administrative Services. It is responsible for documenting historical land and rights claims in order to settle First Nation grievances arising from events after Treaty 3 was signed in 1873.

The TARR program relates to specific claims arising from legal obligations of the Crown, mainly breaches of assets arising from Treaty, Indian Act, or non-provisions of reserve land, administration of reserve lands monies held in trust or illegal disposition of reserve lands, inadequate compensation for reserve lands and finally fraud in relation to the acquisition and disposition of reserve lands by agents of the Crown. Claims can include but are not limited to farming claims, highway claims, railway claims, flooding claims, timber claims, and other claims within the jurisdiction of Treaty #3.

TARR is funded to perform research until the validation stage, which includes the minimum standards. Our member First Nations apply for Loan Funding independently for specific claims negotiations. The proposed performance indicators criteria for T.A.R.R. research units have been amended to include other areas besides specific claims research.

What You Need to Know

How it works

TARR staff and consultants conduct historical, financial and legal research on potential land and rights claims requested by Chiefs and Councils of GCT3 First Nations. When completed, First Nations are able to advance the claims in the manner they wish in order to achieve monetary compensation, land return or both. The most common methods for achieving this include: a claims settlement process with Canada or Ontario or both; the Specific Claims Tribunal; or a Canadian court with competent jurisdiction.

speaker with a microphone

The Specific Claims and Policy Guide

Here is an excerpt from the 2009 Policy “Justice At Last” for “lawful obligation” validation stage of the process:

A First Nation may submit a claim seeking compensation for its losses based on any of the following grounds:

  • A treaty or another agreement between the First Nation and the Crown*;
  • A breach of a legal obligation of the Crown* under the Indian Act or any other legislation – pertaining to Indians or lands reserved for Indians – of Canada or of a colony of Great Britain of which at least some portion now forms part of Canada;
  • A breach of a legal obligation arising from the Crown’s* provision or non-provision of reserve lands, including unilateral undertakings that give rise to a fiduciary obligation at law, or its administration of reserve lands, Indian money or other assets of the First Nation;
  • An illegal lease or disposition by the Crown* of reserve lands;
  • A failure to provide adequate compensation for reserve lands taken or damaged by the Crown* or any of its agencies under legal authority; or
  • Fraud by employees or agents of the Crown* in connection with the acquisition, leasing or disposition of reserve lands.

*This term is defined in the Glossary.

Compensation

The compensation criteria, as previously set out in Outstanding Business: A Native Claims Policy, shall continue to be the basis upon which compensation is determined.

As a general rule, a claimant band shall be compensated for the loss it has incurred and the damages it has suffered as a consequence of the breach by the federal government of its lawful obligations. This compensation will be based on legal principles.

Where a claimant band can establish that certain of its reserve lands were taken or damaged under legal authority, but that no compensation was ever paid, the band shall be compensated by the payment of the value of these lands at the time of the taking or the amount of the damage done, whichever is the case.

  1. Where a claimant band can establish that certain of its reserve lands were never lawfully surrendered, or otherwise taken under legal authority, the band shall be compensated either by the return of the lands or by the current unimproved value of the lands.
  2. Compensation may include an amount based on the loss of use of the lands in question, where it can be established that the claimants did in fact suffer such a loss. In every case the loss shall be the net loss.

Here are the minimum standards for Specific Claims Submissions:

Claim Document

The claim document must include:

  • a list of allegations based on one or more of the grounds related to the validity of the claim, as set out in the specific claims policy;
  • legal arguments supporting each allegation;
  • a statement of the facts supporting the allegations;
  • a statement that compensation is being claimed; and,
  • a list of authorities with citations, including treaties, statutes, case law and law journal articles, that support the allegations (copies not required).
Historical Report

A historical report, including references to supporting documents, outlining the factual circumstances surrounding the allegations, must be provided.

Supporting Documents

Complete copies of primary documents and relevant excerpts of secondary documents relied upon to support the allegations included in the claim document and referred to in the historical report are also necessary. Further details related to supporting documents are included in the “Form and Manner” in the Minimum Standard guidelines as follows:

Minimum Standard for Form and Manner

The documents provided in support of the claim submission must be clearly labelled with the document source and number. Supporting documents must be identified as referenced in the claim document and/or the historical report and/or the list of all allegations. A separate document index setting out, at a minimum, the document number, date and archival reference where applicable, must be provided with the claim submission.

Documents can be submitted as hard copies and/or on CD-Rom, DVD-ROM, or any other standard mass storage device.

Other Considerations

The supporting documents must be legible and complete. This may require preparing transcripts of documents that are of poor quality or are difficult to read. Avoid writing on copies of documents included in the submission and ensure that document pages are not cut off, stapled through or added to binders in a manner that obscures the text. Minor technical errors, such as a missing page or illegible photocopy, will be brought to the attention of the claimant so that the error may be addressed by the claimant. This should not, however, affect compliance with the Minimum Standards.

Best Practices

Research staff and consultants conduct the following types of activities:

  • Document recovery of historical correspondence and financial files from various archives, government agencies and libraries
  • Individual and group interviews with First Nation Elders
  • Local, regional and national travel as required and approved, including Manitoba, Ontario and Canada archives and research conferences
  • Analysis of claim facts and writing of fully referenced historical reports
  • Co-ordination with legal counsel for the First Nation in preparation of a claim
  • Presentations of historical research results to Chiefs and Councils
  • Preparation of document indexes and collections to support the claim, plus follow-up with government counter-research staff on documents and minimum standards
  • Historical information requests from Treaty 3 staff, other TARR personnel and Chiefs
  • Writing briefing notes for Chiefs and progress reports for the funding agency

Examples of Claims Completed or Currently in Development by TARR

  • Reserve lands and islands taken without authority or consent, or compensation
  • Reserve timber or minerals taken improperly or with inadequate compensation
  • Trespass on Reserves for Roads, Bridges, Railways, Transmission Lines
  • Flooding of Reserve land
  • Failure to set aside sufficient reserve land called for in Treaty 3
  • Breach of a Treaty Promise
  • Breach of the Indian Act and Regulations
  • Failure to set aside arable land for farming as promised in Treaty 3
  • Failure to provide the equipment and supplies as promised in Treaty 3

Examples Of Claims Successfully Negotiated by Treaty 3 First Nations

These claims were among those developed by TARR in years past, then submitted and negotiated by the First Nation independently (without TARR) with Canada, Ontario or both. The information is derived chiefly from Canada’s on-line status reports on specific claim settlements:

  • Northwest Angle 33 – Flooding of IR 33A & 33B
  • Big Grassy / Ojibways of Onigaming – Timber Claim on IR 35J
  • Niisaachewan Anishinaabe – Flooding of IR 38C
  • Nigigoonsiminikaaning – Flooding
  • Naotkamegwanning – Flooding
  • Seine River – Flooding
  • Big Grassy – Flooding
  • Ojibways of Onigaming – Flooding
  • Animakee Wa Zhing – Flooding
  • Animakee Wa Zhing – Treaty Land Entitlement
  • Big Grassy / Ojibways of Onigaming – Windy Point
  • Big Grassy – Riverbed and Highway
  • Rainy River – Flooding
  • Niisaachewan Anishinaabe – Loss of Timber Revenue
  • Niisaachewan Anishinaabe – Transmission Line
  • Big Grassy / Ojibways of Onigaming – Assabaska IR Shoreline
  • Rainy River – Improper Surrenders & Taking of Reserve Land
  • Wabigoon Lake – Timber
  • Wabigoon Lake – Flooding
  • Eagle Lake – Timber Trespass 1883

Other claims are under review by Canada, or in litigation after rejection.

Careers

TARR is seeking motivated individuals interested in Treaty 3 history, research and writing. Applicants must be willing to undertake training and skill development for in-depth investigation into historical grievances suffered by GCT3 First Nations.

If you are interested in uncovering the facts of land claims, the ‘Who, What, Where, When and How’ of issues affecting Treaty 3 First Nations, please contact one of our staff members.

Contact Information

Larry Morrison – T.A.R.R Specialist
1-807-548-4214

Chacity Sawka – T.A.R.R Archive Research Assistant
1-807-548-4214 ext.704

Morgan Chapman – Manager, Research & Technology Operations
Havlik Consulting Group