Progress Report - Specific Claims

In June 2007, the Government of Canada announced an action plan to speed up the resolution of specific claims in order to provide justice to First Nation claimants and certainty for all Canadians. Canada's Specific Claims Action Plan is delivering record results.

To learn more about the process for resolving these claims, read about the key terms used in this report and review the Frequently Asked Questions about Specific Claims.

What is Being Measured?

This report tracks overall progress in implementing the Specific Claims Action Plan and resolving specific claims in Canada since the fall of 2008.

Looking Back: Quick Facts

Between 1993 and 2006, the number of outstanding claims in the federal inventory doubled and there was a growing backlog of claims awaiting action. By early 2007, the average processing time for specific claims was 13 years.

When the action plan was announced, there were over 770 outstanding claims in Canada. Roughly 80 per cent of these unresolved claims were bottlenecked at the assessment stage awaiting a response from Canada.

Progress: At a Glance

Implementing the Specific Claims Action Plan
The Government of Canada delivered on all four commitments made in its 2007 Specific Claims Action Plan.

• With the Assembly of First Nations, Canada jointly developed legislation creating the Specific Claims Tribunal  , which also introduced new three-year time frames to the process. The legislation came into effect on October 16, 2008 and there are currently five claims before the Tribunal.
• Canada has put in place practical measures to ensure faster processing of claims by the government.
• With the dedicated settlement fund in place, there are now more funds dedicated solely to the resolution of specific claims than ever before.
• A new approach is also being put in place to ensure better access to mediation for the parties involved in these negotiations.

Resolving Claims
Since the fall of 2008, Canada has cleared up the backlog of claims at the assessment stage and settled 40 claims through negotiated agreements with First Nations totaling $925 million. After a thorough review, Canada responded to the 541 claims that were bottlenecked at the assessment stage when the legislation came into force. This number includes:

• 214 claims that were accepted for negotiation (seven of these claims have since been settled through negotiation)
• 261 claims that were not accepted for negotiation on the basis that the claims did not give rise to any outstanding lawful obligations
• 53 claims that were addressed by means of file closure.
• 13 claims that were withdrawn from the process by First Nations to pursue resolution through the courts or at the Tribunal.

The number of claims in negotiations has more than doubled and there are now more claims in negotiations than ever before.

In keeping with the Specific Claims Tribunal Act, Canada responded to all of the backlogged claims within three years. Since the Act came into force, over 100 new claims have been filed. Canada will continue to thoroughly assess these new claims within a three-year period. The government will also continue to make best efforts to negotiate settlements with First Nations within three years wherever possible.

Then and Now: A statistical snapshot Compare some statistics on the status of claims from October 16, 2008 with the present day.*

*These statistics do not include claims in litigation or claims before the Tribunal. Read about the key terms used in this report.

You Wanted To Know

Bringing greater transparency to the process was also a key part of Canada’s Specific Claims Action Plan. The Government of Canada has put in place several new online tools so that all Canadians can see how the government is delivering on its commitment to resolve outstanding specific claims. These tools tracking progress are identified below.

• Search the status report to track the progress of individual claims
• Search the settlement report or explore this interactive map to learn about claims resolved through negotiations between 1973 and the present day.
• Look and listen to these videos about successfully negotiated specific claims.

Specific Claims Inventory

This graph shows how the number of claims in negotiation (shown in light blue) has more than doubled and how the number of claims under assessment (shown in pink) has been reduced from a backlog of over 600 claims in 2007 to the 100 new claims currently at this stage of the process. These results are tracked from June 12, 2007 to October 16, 2011. The number of new claims received (shown in dark blue) throughout this period is also highlighted separately in the graph.

Text description of this chart is available on a separate page.

Resolving Specific Claims 2007-2011

This graph shows how the overall federal inventory (shown in red) is decreasing and the number of finalized claims (shown in blue) is increasing. These results were tracked at key points from March 31, 2007 to October 16, 2011.

Text description of this chart is available on a separate page.

Definitions

Specific claims
Specific claims deal with the past grievances of First Nations. These grievances relate to Canada's obligations under historic treaties or the way it managed First Nation funds or assets. (return to source paragraph)

Inventory
Claims within the federal inventory are claims that are still being processed by the government and have not yet been resolved. This includes both claims that are under assessment and claims in negotiations. (return to source paragraph)