Executive Council Office

What’s In a Final Agreement?

Each First Nation Final Agreement is lengthy and complex.  Here are some highlights:

Financial Compensation

Each First Nation Final Agreement sets out that First Nation’s share of financial compensation, its part of a total $242,673,000 (in 1989 dollars) from the Government of Canada. The agreement also sets out the repayment of each First Nation’s share of funds borrowed for negotiation costs, which is roughly 25% of their total compensation. The payments are made over a 15 year period after the Final Agreement comes into effect.

Land

In total, the 14 First Nations receive 41,595 square kilometers [16,060 sq miles] of Settlement Land in the Yukon, which is divided amongst the 14 First Nations.

Each First Nation is the legal owner of its Settlement Land.

  • 25,899 sq. km. [10,000 sq miles] of Category A Settlement land – which the First Nations fully owns, including both surface and sub-surface (mines and minerals).
  • 15,539 sq. km. [6,000 sq miles] of Category B Settlement land – on which the First Nation has rights to the surface. Mines and mineral rights are retained by the Yukon government.

The location of Settlement Land is negotiated by the three parties: the individual First Nation and the governments of Canada and Yukon. Settlement Parcels are one of three types:

  • R = Rural lands
  • C = Community Lands
  • S  = Site Specifics

Provisions allowing for access, taxation, development assessment, surface rights and many more aspects of land use are also set out in either the individual Final Agreement or the companion Self-Government Agreement.

Land Use Planning

Each First Nation Final Agreement provides for establishment of a Regional Land Use Planning Commission to recommend a plan for both Settlement and Non-Settlement Land. The Yukon Land Use Planning Council was established through the agreements to deal with land use planning for all areas covered by Final Agreements.

Special Management Areas

Final Agreements provide for the establishment of Special Management Areas or SMAs. These are areas which all parties to the negotiations agreed should be protected or managed differently than ordinary public or Settlement Land.  Some examples include: Tombstone Territorial Park, Vuntut National Park, Kusawa Territorial Park and Ddhaw Ghro Habitat Protection Area, and Lewes Marsh Habitat Protection Area.

Involvement in Government Institutions

Final Agreements establish several boards or committees with significant responsibilities. All of the boards and committees have guaranteed First Nation representation, usually 50% of the membership.

For example, the Yukon Fish and Wildlife Management Board is the primary instrument for fish and wildlife management in the Yukon. A Renewable Resource Council is the primary instrument for fish and wildlife management within a Traditional Territory.

Other institutions are the Heritage Resources Board, the Surface Rights Board, and the Land Use Planning Council.

Harvesting

Conservation and sharing are the guiding principles of  Chapter 16 of the Final Agreements which deal with Fish and Wildlife.

Yukon Indian People have the right to harvest any number of all species, in all seasons, for subsistence reasons within their Traditional Territory.

Each First Nation administers and manages the rights of Yukon Indian People harvesting within its Traditional Territory. Consequently, a First Nation member also has the right to harvest in another First Nation’s Traditional Territory when given permission by that First Nation.

The Government of Yukon can limit a First Nation’s ability to harvest, but only for very specific reasons and after meeting strict consultation requirements of the Final Agreement. Those reasons include public safety, public health and conservation.

Final Agreements also speak to trapping, access to land for harvesting and commercial harvesting.

Other matters addressed in Final Agreements include Forestry, Water, Non-Renewable Resources, and Heritage Resources.

 

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