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A First Nation in southern Alberta is celebrating a $5.8-million award from Ottawa after its members voted overwhelmingly in favour of a settlement that “rights a historic wrong.”

The Blood Tribe, the largest First Nation by landmass in Canada, had successfully argued the Canadian government violated federal laws by occupying nearly 22,300 hectares of the band’s land during the Second World War.

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The Canadian military used the property northeast of Standoff townsite as a shooting and bombing practice range from 1941 to 1945. But the government didn’t seek the band’s approval through a vote of eligible members, a requirement of the Indian Act.

“(The military was) dropping bombs and many of the tribal members experienced it; that’s why they questioned it after the war,” said Rick Tailfeathers, spokesman for the Blood Tribe.

Photo by Leah Hennel Leah Hennel / Calgary Herald

The band argued that it lost a big source of revenue, because it could have used the land for oil and gas exploration, farming and grazing.