Chakastapaysin First Nation

Chakastapaysin and four headmen signed Treaty 6 in August 1876 at Fort Carlton. Their band resided in an area around Fort à la Corne in the late 1880s, but the Department of Indian Affairs alleged that all of the Chakastapaysin Band members had moved off their reserve by 1898 and that their names had been added to the pay lists of other bands. The government claimed that they had ceased to exist as a band from that point, and their reserve was sold. Proceeds were credited to the bands to which Chakastapaysin Band members were transferred. In December 1998, members of the James Smith Cree Nation, descended from Chakastapaysin Band members, launched a claim against the federal government arguing that the Chakastapaysin Reserve had been unlawfully surrendered and sold. In May 1999 the Indian Claims Commission was asked to conduct an inquiry into the rejection of this claim; Canada has not raised a challenge to the inquiry, although it remains unsettled. The Chakastapaysin Band is thus recognized at some level by various First Nations organizations and government departments, but it has not been re-established.

Christian Thompson