First Nations receiving over $15,000 in agricultural benefit claims will no longer be receiving income assistance following a Ministerial Order issued by the provincial government.

The agricultural benefits claim, like the Treaty Land Entitlement and Residential School System claims, exist to address breaches of Treaty promises and to repair historical wrongdoings. Chief of Sturgeon Lake First Nation Christina Longjohn says the federal government was trying to achieve reconciliation by providing these payments, but the province is clawing those attempts back.

“To put caps on the benefits that our membership will receive is not right. The Province is targetting the poorest of the poor,” she stated.

Chief of Clearwater River Dene Nation Teddy Clark says he was just starting to have hope in the provincial and federal government’s reconcilliation efforts, when he heard about this benefit cap.

“It’s very heartbreaking to think that our people are slowly starting to move ahead, and all of a sudden obstacles are thrown in the way again. It’s a fairly big obstacle the way I see it,” Clark stated sullenly.

Chief of Mosquito First Nation, Tanya Anguilar Antiman, says she wants to know how the province came up with the number of $15,000, as there were no consultations with the FSIN or chiefs prior to the policy being implemented.

“This is really not true reconciliation. This is a dictation (of) how we are to deliver and provide those financial supports to our membership,” Antiman explained.

She adds that Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia are the only provinces that have implemented the limit, which she says was done without any consultation with First Nations chiefs or the FSIN. Taking legal action is in the cards, but the FSIN does not yet know what that will look like.