THUNDER BAY – Efforts toward settling a Flood Claim for Lac Des Mille Lac First Nation appear to be moving forward.
In a statement issued by the Chief and Council:
Members of Chief and Council and the Flood Claim Negotiations Team have been working diligently towards the completion of our Flood Claim Settlement. Since our previous Spring 2016 update, we have had several productive meetings with officials from both the Provincial and Federal governments.
At a significant meeting in Toronto, Ontario held in May 2016, all parties were able to arrive at a comprehensive draft version of the Settlement and Easement Agreements. While there are still some outstanding modifications to the legal wording (verbiage) of these documents that must be addressed prior to moving to a community referendum, Chief White Cloud notified all parties that our Lac des Mille Lacs families had waited long enough. As such, Chief and Council are very pleased to announce that we will move forward to communicate specific details regarding the Settlement, including the proposed individual monetary compensation numbers, at an Annual General Membership Meeting scheduled to take place at the Airlane Hotel on Friday June 17, 2016 from 12 – 7 p.m.
Please note that the date and time of this meeting were arrived at based on the availability of several of our Negotiations Team members who will now be available to the membership to address any questions that may arise. Also note that three (3) presentations will be scheduled throughout the day/evening in order to accommodate the different work and life schedules of our families.
Please see the attached AGM schedule (click here) for these times. Please note that it will be up to our membership to make the final decision on whether or not to accept the terms outlined in our Flood Claim Settlement. Once the outstanding legal details of the documents have been addressed and agreed to, an Electoral Officer will call a referendum. The Referendum process will take approximately 45 days, after the initial 15-day notification period. Should the people decide to accept, it is still our hope and goal to get the compensation payments out to our members in the summer of 2016.
