Saskatchewan First Nation man has over $20K settlement seized for unpaid child support

The Peepeekisis Cree Nation sign is seen in this undated image. (CTV News)

A Saskatchewan First Nation man is losing most of his share of a $150 million federal specific claims settlement after a court agreed to withhold it for unpaid child support.

Colin Stonechild is a member of Peepeekisis Cree Nation, which settled the $150 million specific claim in 2021 over lands seized from the nation in 1898 for a federal agricultural scheme called the File Hills Colony.

Stonechild was owed a $30,000 per capita share of the settlement, but last year his former partner Michelle Whitecalf turned to the Court of King’s Bench to seize the bulk of those funds.

At the time, Stonechild had child support arrears in excess of $23,900, according to court records.

Peepeekisis Cree Nation was a named party in the suit.

The Maintenance Enforcement Office, which enforces orders for child support, had named Peepeekisis as an account debtor and was seeking to recover the funds from the nation before they were distributed to Stonechild.

According to lawyers involved with the case, Peepeekisis was obligated to respond, or risk having a default judgment against it, with band property being seized to satisfy the judgment.

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Peepeekisis took no position on whether the funds could be seized directly from Stonechild’s account.

Lawyers for the First Nation argued that Section 89 of the Indian Act, which protects the property of an Indian or band from being seized by a non-Indigenous person, should prevent the court from enforcing the child support order against Peepeekisis itself.

But in a unanimous ruling published this month, the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan disagreed.

Because Whitecalf met the definition of a status Indian, and the seizure was made on her behalf, the court found Section 89 did not apply.

There was some dispute about whether the enforcement office’s copy of her certificate was reliable evidence, or whether Whitecalf ought to present photocopies showing both sides of the document.

Ultimately, the panel of three justices ruled Whitecalf presented sufficient and credible evidence of her Indian status – but ruled a judge may require further proof in similar situations in future, depending on the facts of the case.