Canada has compensated the indigenous Siksika people for the state taking their land from them in 1910. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed the deal yesterday (local time), saying, “We have come together today and to right the wrongs of the past.” The Siksika nation will receive 1.3 billion Canadian dollars (about 960 million euros).
In 1910, the Canadian government confiscated nearly half of the Blackfoot people’s reservation land in the province of Alberta for resource development and sale to settlers. 30 years ago, Siksika was given a contractual guarantee of land.
“behaved abusively”
Trudeau said the government was “dishonest” at the time by taking the most agriculturally productive and mineral-rich land from indigenous peoples “for the benefit of other peoples”.
Indigenous Relations Minister Mark Miller said, “While this agreement cannot compensate for the past, we hope that it will result in a better and brighter future for this generation and generations to come.”
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