{"id":96927,"date":"2025-09-10T08:43:55","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T12:43:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=96927"},"modified":"2025-09-10T08:43:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T12:43:55","slug":"first-nation-says-it-was-shortchanged-by-millions-for-land-in-2002-settlement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/10\/first-nation-says-it-was-shortchanged-by-millions-for-land-in-2002-settlement\/","title":{"rendered":"First Nation says it was shortchanged by millions for land in 2002 settlement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>-CP-A First Nation in British Columbia says it was underpaid by millions of dollars in a 2002 settlement with the federal government over land that was given to a different band then sold to a railway more than a century ago. The Lax Kw&#8217;alaams Band says in a Federal Court lawsuit that its settlement was valued at $17.75 million, while the Metlakatla Band got $150 million &#8212; more than eight times more &#8212; for the illegal sale of the same land, in a 2023 settlement. The lawsuit filed this month says the land in northwest B.C. was illegally divided in 1888 then unlawfully sold to the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company in 1907. The Lax Kw&#8217;alaams Band says the Metlakatla settlement was based on &#8220;historical wrongs&#8221; by the Canadian government&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F09%2F10%2Ffirst-nation-says-it-was-shortchanged-by-millions-for-land-in-2002-settlement%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>-CP-A First Nation in British Columbia says it was underpaid by millions of dollars in a 2002 settlement with the federal government over land that was given to a different band then sold to a railway more than a century ago. The Lax Kw&#8217;alaams Band says in a Federal Court lawsuit that its settlement was valued at $17.75 million, while the Metlakatla Band got $150 million &#8212; more than eight times more &#8212; for the illegal sale of the same land, in a 2023 settlement. The lawsuit filed this month says the land in northwest B.C. was illegally divided in 1888 then unlawfully sold to the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company in 1907. The Lax Kw&#8217;alaams Band says the Metlakatla settlement was based on &#8220;historical wrongs&#8221; by the Canadian government... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F09%2F10%2Ffirst-nation-says-it-was-shortchanged-by-millions-for-land-in-2002-settlement%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>First Nation says it was shortchanged by millions for land in 2002 settlement - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/10\/first-nation-says-it-was-shortchanged-by-millions-for-land-in-2002-settlement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First Nation says it was shortchanged by millions for land in 2002 settlement - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-CP-A First Nation in British Columbia says it was underpaid by millions of dollars in a 2002 settlement with the federal government over land that was given to a different band then sold to a railway more than a century ago. The Lax Kw&#8217;alaams Band says in a Federal Court lawsuit that its settlement was valued at $17.75 million, while the Metlakatla Band got $150 million &#8212; more than eight times more &#8212; for the illegal sale of the same land, in a 2023 settlement. The lawsuit filed this month says the land in northwest B.C. was illegally divided in 1888 then unlawfully sold to the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company in 1907. The Lax Kw&#8217;alaams Band says the Metlakatla settlement was based on &#8220;historical wrongs&#8221; by the Canadian government\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/10\/first-nation-says-it-was-shortchanged-by-millions-for-land-in-2002-settlement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-10T12:43:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/10\\\/first-nation-says-it-was-shortchanged-by-millions-for-land-in-2002-settlement\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/10\\\/first-nation-says-it-was-shortchanged-by-millions-for-land-in-2002-settlement\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"First Nation says it was shortchanged by millions for land in 2002 settlement\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-10T12:43:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/10\\\/first-nation-says-it-was-shortchanged-by-millions-for-land-in-2002-settlement\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":333,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/10\\\/first-nation-says-it-was-shortchanged-by-millions-for-land-in-2002-settlement\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/10\\\/first-nation-says-it-was-shortchanged-by-millions-for-land-in-2002-settlement\\\/\",\"name\":\"First Nation says it was shortchanged by millions for land in 2002 settlement - 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