Two First Nations are suing the Manitoba and federal government, claiming land and mineral rights to the southwest corner of the province, where the annual value of oil and gas produced exceeds $1.3 billion.

Canupawakpa Dakota First Nation and Dakota Tipi First Nation filed a statement of claim in Court of King's Bench on Thursday, asking for a declaration of title and subsurface rights over the entirety of the Williston Basin in Manitoba, including oil rights "and the right to economically participate in the extraction, development, and production of subsurface minerals."

The lawsuit says the area is unceded ancestral land, and the Dakota were "deliberately and strategically excluded from the numbered treaties," meaning their inherent rights, including title, have never been re

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