Qalipu First Nation and Canada announce reassessment of 58,000 membership applications

The contentious developmentof QalipuMi'kmaq First Nation's membership listhas taken another step backwardsafter Canada and the band announced Thursday that 58,000 applications are to be reassessed.

Brendan Mitchell, Chief of Qalipu and the president of the Federation of Newfoundland Indians, said a newmembership list may not be ready until 2020.

Mitchell andGudieHutchings, MP for Long Range Mountains in Newfoundland, announcedan enrolment committee willreview the applications of thosewho were denied membership for failing to prove they self-identified asMi'kmawbefore submitting their membership applicationsafter the band was officially establishedin September2011.

"Nowwe have an opportunity to revisit these files again [and] mitigate some of the hurt and the damage that may have been done recently with the change of the founding members list," said Mitchell in an interview Friday.

Canada and Qalipuestablished a new founding members list of 18,575 people in June.

The announcement is a result of aFederal Court ruling earlier this yearin what's known as the Well/Wells case.

As per the Wells/Wells ruling, the58,000 applicants will be permitted to submit additional self-identification documents to support their application,as well as to appeal their denials.

No details yet

In a statement released Thursday,Minister of Crown-Indigenous RelationsCarolyn Bennett saidthe process was an "important step towards reconciliation" for the Mi'kmaq of Newfoundland.

"Canadaand the Federation of Newfoundland Indians will continue to work in close collaboration throughout the implementation of the Federal Court's decision, in the spirit of upholding the integrity of founding membership," the statement read.

Mitchell saidthe reassessments will help to"fix the problems" in the enrolment process.However, he also saidthe band and Canada haven't figured out how long the processwill take or when it will start.

"I don't know yet how we're going to do this," Mitchell said."Hopefully the process will begin as early as next week."

Mitchell said that since an enrolment committee needs to be reassembled,it's likely that the actual reassessments won't start until sometime after Christmas.

"We'll be lucky to get it done by the end of 2019, but I couldn't say. It could be 2019, it could be in 2020," he said.

The enrolment process has already taken nearly a decade.

Veterans to be reconsidered

Also announced by Hutchingsand Mitchell on Thursday, was the federal government and Qalipu's joint intention to addressapplications to Qalipu by members of the Canadian Armed Forces, veterans andRCMPwho say their time in service affected their eligibiltyscores.

Some veteranshad their applications for membership denied based on factors like notresidingin Newfoundland, when they say that was because they were stationed in other parts of the world.

Mitchell said theendeavouris "to bring the veterans back" into themembership, but he was unable to provide details about how the involved parties were going to accomplish that.

"For me, it's an easy one. I'd say, 'Look, take our veterans and put them back in the band,'" he said.

"But Canada might say it's not that easy."

Requests for more details on either part ofannouncement were not returned byCrown-Indigenous Relations minister's office.