Feds pay First Nation in B.C. $147M over loss of water rights

A First Nation in B.C.'s Interior has received more than $147 million from the federal government after more than 20 years of fighting for the acknowledgement of its water rights.

The Esk'etemc (pronounced es-KET-em) First Nation, located southwest of Williams Lake, B.C., first filed with Specific Claims, which deals with past wrongs against First Nations in Canada, in 2003, raising issues arising from being prevented from completing an irrigation ditch in the 1890s. 

In 1881, land was set aside for Wycott's Flat Indian Reserve #6 and the agreement noted that all the water flowing out of a nearby lake was reserved for the Esk'etemc Nation, according to Anispiragas Piragasanathar, a spokesperson for Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. 

The Esk'etemc Nation said all the water from Vert Lake, southeast of the reserve, was promised to the Esk'etemc for irrigation as part of a reserve land agreement. The First Nation started digging in the 1890s, but after two years of work and just one kilometre away from completion, it was told it had to stop. 

"It was devastating," lawyer Stan Ashcroft told CBC's Daybreak Kamloops guest host Doug Herbert. "I mean, after all that effort to be told you can't continue, when I talked to the elders, they said it was completely devastating."

The irrigation ditch has lain dormant since, according to the First Nation. 

When the claim was first filed, the feds rejected it, the First Nation says. 

But the Esk'etemc persisted, and in 2018, the federal government changed its tune and entered into negotiations in 2021. 

Ashcroft said the Esk'etemc hired experts to assess the loss dating back to 1893.

"There's two aspects to it," he said. "One is the difference in the value of the land if it had water as opposed to it not having water. And the second is the crops that the Esk'etemc could have been expected to grow."

"One can't help but think that with the social conditions at that time, the small reserves, and the lack of resources if the community would have had irrigated land, they could have grown crops," archaeologist and anthropologist Beth Bedard said in a news release. 

In an email to CBC, Piragasanathar said this settlement is an important part of reconciliation in Canada.

"Settling claims is the right thing to do. Negotiated settlements help to right past wrongs, renew relationships and advance reconciliation for the benefit of all Canadians."

Esk'etemc Kukpi7 (Chief) Fred Robbins said the settlement is "bittersweet," as he can't help but think about the elders who worked on the ditch and participated in negotiations who have passed on and won't be able to benefit from this money. 

"Their interest wasn't for themselves. They wanted to make sure that their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren and their great, great-grandchildren had a future," he said. 

"This is a release … of a lot of stress, and it's really been nothing but good news for our community, and we're very glad that we got to the end of this."

Now, he and his membership will work together to decide how to use that money.

The Esk'etemc First Nation has approximately 1,100 members, about 60 per cent of whom live off reserve and 40 per cent who live on reserve. 

Robbins said they'll put together a team of experts who can consider different investments and trusts, but it comes down to what the community wants. 

"We actually can see a future now. It's just a matter of planning for it," Robbins said. 

LISTEN | Esk'etemc First Nation receives $147 million settlement

Daybreak Kamloops11:25Cariboo-Chilcotin area First Nation wins $147M settlement over water rights

For more than two decades, the Esk'etemc First Nation has been working to get compensation for water rights promised by the federal government a century ago, but never delivered to the community.