Question Period Note: Dakota Tipi First Nation and Canupawakpa Nation’s Williston Basin Litigation

N.A.

• Crown – Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) is aware of the lawsuit filed on November 20, 2025 by the Dakota Tipi First Nation and Canupawakpa Dakota Nation in the Court of King’s Bench of Manitoba.
• The Government of Canada has not yet received the Statement of Claim, so is unable to comment further at this time.

According to a media report, the Canupawakpa Dakota First Nation and Dakota Tipi First Nation filed a statement of claim in the Court of King's Bench on November 20, 2025, seeking a declaration of title and subsurface rights over the Manitoba portion of the Williston Basin, located in the southwest portion of the province, including oil rights "and the right to economically participate in the extraction, development, and production of subsurface minerals."
According to the article, the lawsuit states that “most of the land in the Williston Basin was granted before 1889, so the majority of rights are in the hands of private owners. The Crown still owns about 20 per cent of subsurface rights in the basin, which the Dakota Nations want transferred to them. Alternatively, their lawsuit calls for economic participation or compensation.”
The litigation is at a very preliminary stage, and as of November 25, 2025, the Plaintiffs’ Statement of Claim (CI25-01-54632) has not been posted on the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench’s online registry system and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada has not received the statement of claim.

If pressed on concerns of private landholders
• In all Aboriginal title litigation, the Government of Canada is committed to maintaining legal clarity and stability in land ownership while respecting Aboriginal rights and title, and the Court process.
• CIRNAC will not be able to comment further until we have received and reviewed this claim. If pressed on Dakota-Lakota Apology and Reconciliation
• On July 15, 2024, The Government of Canada formally apologized to the nine Dakota and Lakota First Nations in Canada for past harms and formally affirmed their status as “Aboriginal peoples of Canada”.