There’s no ‘land to return’. It was legally surrendered by Treaty. And note how taxpayers – not the Bay or the Aboriginals – will be paying for redevelopment:
“The Hudson’s Bay Co.’s transfer of its former downtown flagship department store to the Southern Chiefs’ Organization signalled an immense amount of change — both in terms of the pace of ‘returning’ important parcels of land to ‘Indigenous’ ownership, and the degree to which Winnipeg’s leaders will tolerate the continuing decay of the inner city.
{Note: Canadian Aboriginals are ‘Indigenous’ to Mongolia and Siberia.}
“On the ‘decolonization’ {moving backwards} front, the transfer of the six-storey former Bay building is significant both symbolically and in concrete terms.
“The HBC, more than any other commercial enterprise in the history of North America, was responsible for opening up the northwestern quadrant of this continent to European settlement.
{For which, they deserve our gratitude.}
“The effect on the ‘Indigenous’ peoples of this continent was disastrous, as HBC governor Richard Baker acknowledged in candid terms during Friday’s transfer ceremony.
{Yes, ‘politically correct’ platitudes – no matter how ahistorical or disingenuous — are now ‘de riguer’ for Canadian corporate officials.}
“While we are proud of our longevity, HBC played a definitive role in the ‘colonization’ {‘modernization’} of Canada. The impact of our company’s history is not at all lost on me“,
said Baker…
“And with that, the Bay’s former Winnipeg flagship, a 650,000-square-foot behemoth of a building that occupies one of the most prominent corners of the inner city, is in the hands of the 34 Manitoba Anishinaabe and Dakota nations represented by the ‘Southern Chiefs’ Organization’.
{They have to own it collectively because they stole the land from each other.}
“At the same time, the HBC was highly motivated to dispose of the property… If HBC retained ownership of the store it shuttered in 2020, it would have been responsible for maintaining its heritage elements, even with no revenue coming in to pay for bare-minimum building maintenance.
“…former Manitoba premier Brian Pallister announced $25 million in redevelopment funding. His successor, Heather Stefanson, topped that up on Friday with $10 million more for the housing component. The federal ‘Liberal’ {Party} government has come to the table with a $55-million forgivable loan and another $10-million loan that must be repaid. The city is also being asked to improve the streetscaping around the Bay and forgo future property tax revenue emanating from the project.
“But questions remain about the rest of the financing for the project, which appears to be $30 million short of its $130-million goal only months before the three-year construction project is slated to begin. SCO Grand Chief Jerry Daniels would not say on Friday whether SCO has raised any money of its own beyond what it has spent on planning. It’s also unclear what entity will be responsible for covering any additional costs, should the project exceed the $130-million price tag.
“The government wouldn’t be giving us $100 million if we didn’t have a plan“,
Daniels quipped…”
{If only that were true…}
–‘Returning land and staving off decay: What the transfer of the Bay building means to Winnipeg’,
Bartley Kives, CBC News, Apr. 23, 2022
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/downtown-winnipeg-bay-transfer-1.6427921
See:
TREATY 1:
“The Chippewa and Swampy Cree Tribes of Indians and all other the Indians inhabiting the district hereinafter described and defined {includes Winnipeg} do hereby CEDE, RELEASE, SURRENDER and YIELD UP to Her Majesty the Queen and successors FOREVER ALL THE LANDS included within the following limits…
{There follows a lengthy description of the territory ceded, released, surrendered, etc.}
“To have and to hold the same to Her said Majesty the Queen and Her successors FOR EVER…”
https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1100100028664/1581294165927
See also:
“Winnipeg is seeking public input on the future of old statues, monuments, plaques and place names that only reflect ‘colonial views’ of the city’s past. The city wants to develop a framework to deal with historical markers that do not reflect ‘indigenous’ {aboriginal} perspectives, such as a Main Street statue commemorating soldiers who fought against {madman} Louis Riel and ‘suppressed’ Métis resistance.
“Mayor Brian Bowman says Winnipeg needs a policy moving forward after Victoria, B.C., made a snap decision in 2018 to remove a statue of John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister, from its city hall. That move that was praised for furthering {one-way} ‘reconciliation’ efforts but also criticized for erasing a piece of Canadian history.
“Bowman says while he is personally opposed to removing monuments, he wants to know what Winnipeggers think so the city can have a policy in place before any decisions must be made.
“For some, the names and monuments disproportionately represent aspects of our shared history that make many in our community feel marginalized and forgotten. For others, the names and monuments celebrate progress“,
Bowman said.
“The Mayor says the city has to consider all perspectives as part of its {one-way} ‘reconciliation’ efforts. To this end, the city is inviting input at https://winnipeg.ca/Indigenous/welcomingwinnipeg/default.stm#tab-engage
and holding a panel discussion at the University of Winnipeg on March 13.
“The Mayor says while he is aware this process is not one of Winnipeg’s top priorities, it is nonetheless important.”
–‘Winnipeg wants input on colonial monuments, markers, place names’,
Bartley Kives, CBC News, Jan. 29, 2019
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-colonial-statues-monuments-reconciliation-1.4997531
And:
‘First Nations’ Get Prime Vancouver Real Estate’ (WP) {April 9, 2016}:
“Three British Columbia ‘First Nations’ have paid nearly half a billion dollars for a prime piece of real estate on the west side of Vancouver.
{Actually, details on what they’ll be paying — and how — have yet to be released. In addition, the taxpayer-owned land was never put up for bid – nor was it ever offered to anyone else for sale}…”
END RACE BASED LAW Daily News Canada 