Sumas wins land claim

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The Sumas Indian Band has won a battle with Indian Affairs over a parcel of land they lost 68 years ago.

An independent commission ruled the federal department illegally sold about 11 hectares of land from the middle of the reserve east of Vancouver in 1927.

The land was part of a tract of 17 hectares expropriated in 1910 for a railway.

The railway was abandoned in 1927, and non-Native landholders whose lands also were expropriated were able to buy them back for $1.

Only about one-third of the land was returned to the Sumas First Nation.

"Canada failed by all accounts to meet its fiduciary obligations to the Sumas band," said the Indian Claims Commission report, chaired by Kim Fullerton.

Compensation for such claims is usually made in cash.

But one band Elder says the Sumas need land, not money.

"I would not want to see our band get a single penny from the federal government or the department of Indian Affairs," said Ray Silver, a former chief of the 225-member band, east of Abbotsford, about a 90-minute drive from Vancouver.

"I'd like to see our land replaced. We haven't even got room here to build homes for our younger generation. We're running out of land."

The reserve sits on 325 hectares of land, but most of it is flood plain and farmland, so there isn't room for housing, the band said.

The lost land, which the band estimates is worth millions of dollars, was sold to private homeowners and manufacturers or pipe plastic which employs two band members and still operates 24 hours a day. The operation won't be affected by the ruling.

The Sumas people own and operate a plant that manufactures red clay bricks, sold across British Columbia' Lower Mainland. They're used in such products as the red floor tiles lining the platforms at some Sky Train stations in Vancouver.

The brick clay is harvested from a mine near the reserve.

Silver suggested another form of compensation could be more clay-rich land so the plant could continue manufacturing past the 50 years the current supply is expected to last.

The commission, which presented its report at a small ceremony at the Sumas First Nation community hall last month, can only make recommendations to Ottawa but cannot force the government to act on its findings.

The fight for compensation was started in 1927 by the great-great grandfather of the current chief, Lester Ned.

Chief Ned was overwhelmed by the victory and the band, which is part of the Sto:lo Nation, is confident a settlement will be reached soon.