Waywayseecappo and the federal government have reached a settlement for 288 million dollars.

Waywayseecappo chief, Murray Clearsky says the settlement is about land that was surrendered in the 1800s.

“We call it a land surrender, but we never surrendered it. Being the agents of the day, the government surrendered our land and gave it to other communities to make other first nation communities, also took parts of our relatives, our families away from us and put them in different areas wherever they made communities.”

Waywayseecappo chief, Murray Clearsky says 92 per cent of their community voted in favour of accepting the money.

“A lot of our community members are very happy and after we had the designation vote, the count came in and we won by a majority, accepting the offer. There were tears, and some were actually crying. Myself, to have it settled, I had tears in my eyes, I had to hold them back. Everyone was so happy, tears of joy.”

Clearsky says they did an assessment on the lost land to find the value of the settlement.

Clearsky had been working on getting the settlement since 1991, adding he always had faith a settlement could be reached.