Whitecap Dakota set to become 1st self-governing First Nation in Sask.

Whitecap Dakota First Nation is writing history in Saskatchewan. 

Members of Whitecap Dakota have voted for their community to become the first self-governing First Nation in Saskatchewan, according to a news release.

Members cast their votes on Oct. 6 and 7, either in-person or online, with 92 per cent supporting the proposal to adopt a constitution and giving chief and council the mandate to sign a governance agreement negotiated with Canada, according to the release.

"We've had that experience with self government in regards to land and land management," said Chief Darcy Bear in an interview with CBC host Peter Mills on Wednesday.

"It's been a positive experience that allowed us to generate a lot of our own source revenue…. So for our membership it was just a natural transition to look at the rest of the Indian Act."

LISTEN | Chief Bear speaks about the move with The Afternoon Edition:

Whitecap Dakota said it negotiated a governance agreement, along with a companion fiscal relationship agreement and implementation plan, with the Canadian government over a period of 10 years.

During that time the community drafted a constitution, establishing the Whitecap Dakota government as a new government within Canada's constitutional framework, the news release said.

New arrangement comes into effect in 2023

The process isn't over yet, with a possible implementation date set for September 2023, according to the chief.

After the recent vote, Whitecap Dakota's decision will go to federal cabinet this fall.

The agreement with the federal government is set to be signed later this year, Bear said. 

"This is an important step for Whitecap in moving away from the Indian Act, implementing their inherent right to self-determination and seeing a better future for their community," said federal Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Marc Miller in the news release.

While self-government agreements vary from group to group, the documents can set out different law-making authorities in various areas, including education, health or governance.

Indigenous laws have to operate in harmony with provincial and federal laws, according to the government. In case of a conflict, Indigenous laws protecting culture and language in general take priority.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code continue to apply, the government's website said.

"Some of the things that we take over [are] for example wills and estates," said Bear.

"If I pass away, the federal government still has to approve that will. No other Canadian citizen has to go through that."

Agreements across Canada

Currently there are 25 self-government agreements in effect across the country involving 43 Indigenous communities, according to an email from Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada.

There are also five stand-alone self-government agreements — the most recent coming into effect at Anishinabek First Nations in Ontario in October — and two education agreements between Canada and 35 Indigenous Nations, said Randy Legault-Rankin, a spokesperson for the federal department.

Once it comes into effect, the proposed Whitecap Dakota First Nation agreement will become the first self-government agreement with a First Nation in Saskatchewan, Legault-Rankin said in his email.

"The recent community vote at Whitecap is a major milestone in the process and a key step toward self-government and a renewed nation-to-nation relationship with Whitecap Dakota First Nation," the email said.

In 2019, Métis Nation-Saskatchewan also signed a self-government agreement with the federal government.

Whitecap Dakota says it will be the second First Nation in the Prairies to sign a self-government agreement. Sioux Valley Dakota Nation in Manitoba became a self-governing First Nation in 2014.

The Indian Act was passed in 1876 and continues to determine how many First Nations are governed in Canada today.

"It was never about giving Indigenous people opportunity," said Bear.

"It was about putting us on small tracts of land called reserves, segregating us from society."