Treaty Land Entitlement

Between 1871 and 1910, Canada entered into various treaties with Indian Bands in Manitoba (Treaties 1-6, Treaty 5 Adhesion and Treaty 10). The treaties provided that Canada would set aside a calculated amount of land as reserve land, based on populations at the time of the original reserve surveys. Not all Indian Bands received their full amount of land. Therefore, Canada owed land to specific First Nations under the terms of the original treaties.

The Manitoba Natural Resources Transfer Agreement (MNRTA) requires that Manitoba set aside sufficient unoccupied Crown land toward the settlement of Canada’s outstanding Treaty Land Entitlement (TLE) obligations. TLE is a constitutional obligation confirmed as Schedule 1 of The Constitution Act, 1982.

Indigenous Reconciliation and Northern Relations is the lead provincial department that works jointly and co-operatively with other parties (e.g., the Entitlement First Nation, Canada, and Treaty Land Entitlement Committee). Our role is to oversee implementation of TLE and to work to remove and resolve the barriers and obstacles in transferring land to Canada for Canada to create reserve lands.