Loan Forgiveness for Liard and Ross River

Summary#

This is an order that cancels old negotiation loan debt for two Indigenous governments. Under the Financial Administration Act, it remits $14,897,877.24 to the Liard First Nation and $10,740,817.63 to the Ross River Dena Council, a combined $25,638,694.87. The order was registered in the Canada Gazette on February 19, 2020.

What it does#

• Remits the outstanding principal and interest on previously written-off support loans used for comprehensive land claim negotiations to:
  • Liard First Nation — $14,897,877.24
  • Ross River Dena Council — $10,740,817.63
• Clears those loan amounts from the two groups’ accounts so the debts do not remain attached to them.
• Brings these two groups into the same position as other groups whose negotiation loan debts were forgiven after the federal funding rules changed (loans were replaced with non-repayable contributions in 2018 and Treasury Board authorized wider forgiveness in 2019).
• Because the order removes the debt, the loans will not be reactivated or deducted from any future settlement if these groups return to negotiations.

Who's affected#

• Directly: the Liard First Nation and the Ross River Dena Council, and their members and leadership.
• Indirectly: officials and negotiators involved in comprehensive land claim processes, and anyone tracking how Canada funds and settles land-claim negotiations.
• If unclear: the order is specific to these two groups; it does not itself change the program for other groups beyond aligning their treatment with earlier forgiveness decisions.

Why it matters#

• It removes a long-standing financial burden (a total of $25,638,694.87) that was sitting on these two communities’ books. That can improve their credit position and financial flexibility.
• It removes a practical barrier to returning to land-claim talks, since any future settlement would not have to be reduced to repay these loans.
• It completes a government action begun in 2018–2019 to move from repayable loans to non-repayable funding for land-claim negotiations, ensuring these two groups are treated the same as others who already benefited from that change.