"Long Plain Band Wants Title to Air Force Base"

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Man. (CP) - As one Manitoba native land claim moved closer to a settlement this week, another surfaced.

The Long Plain band says it should be given title to Canadian Forces Base Portage, which Ottawa is scheduled to close next year.

About 200 band members held a peaceful protest at a base entrance Friday, under the shadow of a mounted Tudor Jet.

"Today we claim this piece of Earth," said Chief Peter Yellowquill, grabbing a fistful of dirt and holding it to the sky.

"This is Ojibwa land."

In a separate case Thursday, a federal official recommended the government return a parcel of land within Riding Mountain Nation Park to the Indian band.

Federal negotiator Reinhard _ said 290 hectares along the northwest shore of Clear Lake should be returned to the band. He said the land was taken from them more than 60 years ago.

His recommendation is just the first step before the band officially regains title to the 290 hectares.

Yellowquill said the Long Plain claim stems from a treaty signed in 1871. Band members were to receive 13 hectares of land per member but the deal was never kept, band officials maintain.

"They (the government) never figured out how many people were on the land," said Jeff Harris, the band's lawyer.

"As a result, there's a substantial shortfall."

The claim has remained unresolved for more than 100 years, despite repeated attempts to settle it, the chief said.

Although the treaty did not specifically include the land now occupied by the base, Yellowhead said the parcel is the only federal property near the reserve, located about 28 kilometres southwest of Portage la Prairie.

"It's good Crown land. And it's in the vicinity of our homeland.

Harris says the band wants to be the landlord and lease the base to industry.