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The Alberta government says it’s approved transferring land that holds a historic cemetery to the Enoch Cree Nation.
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The small parcel of land, which flanks Anthony Henday Drive in west Edmonton, was part of Enoch Cree Nation reserve land until a forced surrender in 1908.
In 2004, the Enoch Cree Nation reached a $54-million settlement with the federal government over the 1908 surrender.
In a Monday news release, Indigenous Relations Minister Rick Wilson said the land should have been reserve land.
“We have started the process to return this sacred land to the people who have been caring for it for generations. Most of us pass it regularly without taking notice, but for the people of the Enoch Cree Nation, it is a spiritual place where their ancestors may lay,” said Wilson.
The release noted that in 2021, Enoch Cree Nation Chief Billy Morin pitched the idea to the City of Edmonton and the Alberta government of transferring the land as an act of reconciliation.
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“I thank Minister Wilson and the government as they have truly honored our ancestors in an unprecedented act of reconciliation while at the same time being open to the future of First Nations through the urban reserve concept,” said Morin in the release.
Prasad Panda, Infrastructure Minister and acting transportation minister, said the provincial government “will continue to manage the transportation utility corridor around the cemetery in the best interest of Albertans,” which includes current and future pipeline development.
The release said the full transfer of the land will take a few months to complete, adding there are upwards of 400,000 acres of surrendered reserve lands across the province, but some of those surrenders were fraudulent.