Money being reimbursed by Ottawa to Yukon First Nations that borrowed it to negotiate their land claim agreements could be in excess of $100 million, says Grand Chief Peter Johnston of the Council of Yukon First Nations.

Johnston told the Star Thursday afternoon there still needs to be fine-tuning of the calculations, but it could very well be north of $100 million.

Some of the First Nations with larger citizenship enrolments could see reimbursements in the neighbourhood of $25 million, he suggested.

Chief Doris Bill of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation did not want to offer a specific number Thursday, but said it’s in the millions and millions for Kwanlin Dün.

The federal government announced Tuesday in its federal budget that it would be reimbursing First Nations that had to borrow money from Ottawa to negotiate their modern day treaties.

Ottawa announced in its budget last year that it was ending the long-standing practice of requiring First Nations to borrow negotiating money.

Many First Nations said Tuesday’s federal budget found that having to borrow the money and the debts that accrued was a barrier to participating in economic and community development opportunities.

“Forgiving and reimbursing loans will allow Indigenous communities and governments to use their resources to strengthen their communities and improve the quality of life of their members,” says the budget.

The federal government earmarked $1.4 billion in the budget to reimburse loan dollars over seven years.

During Yukon land claim negotiations through the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, the individual Yukon First Nations had to borrow their negotiating money from Ottawa.

They also had to share the responsibility for paying back money loaned to the central organization, the Council for Yukon Indians, as it was known back then.

First Nations were required to pay back their negotiating loans over 15 years, at six per cent interest per year from the date their final agreements came into effect. They also paid their compensation dollars over the same 15 years, at six per cent interest per year.

As part of the modern treaties, Ottawa agreed to pay $242.6 million in 1989 dollars to compensate Yukon First Nations as part of their land claim settlements.

It was to be shared among the 14 First Nations, divided up largely on the number of citizens in each First Nation.

Kwanlin Dün’s share of compensation, for instance, was $21.4 million, the fourth-largest amount, according to its final agreement. Kwanlin Dün’s agreement came into effect on Feb. 19, 2005.

It received a total of $47 million in compensation when calculated with interest, in 15 annual payments of $3.1 million per year.

It was required to repay the federal government a total of $25 million over the 15 years, at six per cent interest.

Kwanlin Dün received its last compensation payment of $3.1 million last month, and it made its final loan repayment last month, in the amount of $453,884.

The grand chief said as they watched some 60 active treaty negotiations that the federal government was engaged with in recent years, they began to see the trend of Ottawa moving away from insisting First Nations take out loans to negotiate.

They began lobbying for the return of their loan payments, as what is fair for one First Nation must be applied to all, Johnston explained.

Chief Bill said Yukon First Nations have been lobbying for the reimbursement for a couple of years now.

“We also teamed up with the Yukon government and they helped lobby on our behalf,” she said.

Bill said they still need to see this week’s federal budget be approved in the House of Commons.

Ultimately, she said, it will be up to the citizens of Kwanlin Dün to decide what they want to do with the reimbursement of the loan money.

It will be up to the citizens to decide whether they want the money to be placed in a trust fund, as they’ve done with their compensation dollars, or whether they have priorities they feel should be addressed with the funds, she said.

Johnston said there are still matters to be sorted out with the repayment schedule.

The federal government has committed to reimburse the money over seven years, but they haven’t said what the instalments will be, he explained.

Ideally, Johnston said, they would like to see 50 per cent of the total reimbursement paid in the first year, but certainly nothing less than 25 per cent.

Premier Sandy Silver issued a statement Thursday praising several aspects of the federal budget, including the decision to reimburse the loan money to Yukon First Nations.

“Having participated in a number of meetings about this long-standing issue, we are tremendously pleased to see it addressed as a part of economic reconciliation with Canada’s Indigenous people, including Yukon First Nations,” Silver said.

Of the 14 Yukon First Nations, 11 entered into land agreements, the first four coming into effect in 1995.