About USKE
USKE is an incorporated professional association that provides expertise, capacity building, training, and networking opportunities that are focus on effective land management practices.
Manitoba USKE is a technical land management body, but that doesn’t explain everything we do. We help Manitoba First Nations train people who can help manage land development. Building this capacity is crucial as First Nations make plans for the prosperity and environmental health of future generations.
Land managers are the people who guide various kinds of development forward. That includes resource development like mines, tourism development like fishing lodges, and urban reserve development like shopping malls and office complexes. First Nations require well-trained land managers to ensure the planning policies and procedures are properly followed.
Our Mission
The Mission of the Manitoba USKE is to share unique experiences and common interests in the area of First Nation Land Management, to incorporate cultural values and traditions, and to ensure that the Crown maintains its fiduciary relationship with First Nations.
Through the participation, co-operation and sharing of knowledge and experiences relating to land issues within the Manitoba USKE and with other First Nations, progress can be made towards new initiatives in the management of First Nation Lands.
Working With Other Levels Of Government
Land managers represent their First Nations, but they work with federal, provincial and municipal governments. They function much like municipal planning departments, but they must understand and implement policies from multiple levels of government.
Land managers play a crucial role in helping their First Nations establish their development regulations. This helps answer questions about how resource development can take place and how residential and commercial development can move forward.
Connect To Land Management Expertise
In addition to training land managers for Manitoba First Nations, Manitoba USKE offers ongoing communications and networking opportunities. This includes offering local and national opportunities to learn more about land management issues and meet others in the profession.
It also means providing a consistent connection to hundreds of others across Canada through the National Aboriginal Land Managers Association (NALMA).
Our History
In December 1998, the former Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND), Manitoba Region invited First Nations to a meeting to establish a lands technical advisory committee. The intent was to create a committee comprised of First Nation representatives with technical expertise in several areas of land management.
INAC’s role on the committee was to advise the Department and other First Nations on technical issues associated with Land Management. As a result, there was a great interest in exchanging technical information on land management issues and Manitoba USKE was formed.
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As a result, there was a great interest in exchanging technical information on land management issues and Manitoba USKE was formed.
Since then, Manitoba USKE has gradually grown into the province’s leading organization supporting land management for First Nations. We cooperate with NALMA and our sister organizations in other regions nationwide.
Manitoba USKE helps Manitoba First Nations manage our unique land management issues that arise as a result of the Manitoba Treaty Land Entitlement Agreement (TLEC).
That agreement details the way Canada, Manitoba and the Treaty Land Entitlement Committee (“TLEC”) of Manitoba Inc. have agreed to fulfill outstanding Treaty Land Entitlement (“TLE”) claims in Manitoba for Entitlement First Nations (“EFNs”) represented by the TLEC. The TLE Framework Agreement attempts to settle the land debt owed to the First Nations that did not receive all the lands they were entitled to under Treaties 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10.
Today, Manitoba USKE is hard at work helping First Nations add land management expertise to their governments through specialized training and education opportunities. We also help educate federal, provincial and municipal governments on land management issues relating to First Nations.
As First Nations take more control of their economic development and destiny, they must add land management expertise to their governments. This will aid in guiding future economic growth by facilitating new developments on reserve and urban reserves.
Manitoba USKE is a non-political organization comprised of Representatives from:
- Department of Indian Affairs Lands Unit
- First Nations with delegated authority (Section 53 & 60) of the Indian Act
- First Nations in Regional Land Administration Program (RLAP)
- First Nation in Reserve Land and Environment Program (RLEMP)
- First Nation Land Management Act (FNLMA)
- Manitoba USKE – The Founding Members
