Dakota Plains First Nation

Dakota Plains First Nation, Dakota Plains Wahpeton Oyate, or Wakhpetunwin Otinta (Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ Otina Dakhóta Oyáte, "Leaf dwellers") is a Wahpeton band Dakota First Nations entity southwest of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. It borders the somewhat larger Long Plain First Nation, as well as the Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie and the Municipality of Norfolk Treherne.

Dakota Plains First Nation has never signed a treaty with Canada. When the Canadian government was negotiating the Numbered Treaties with Ojibwe First Nations in the region, Canada excluded the Dakotas, stating that they were refugees from the United States (descendants of Chief Taoyateduta, known as Little Crow), and thus had no Aboriginal title claim to lands that were taken over by Canada. This claim is disputed by the Dakota nations themselves, as well as by historians and archeologists, such as Manitoba historian James Morrison says the Dakotas were in Canada before the Europeans arrived. "The historical evidence indicates that there were Dakota settlements in the 18th and early 19th century, at various times, in southern Saskatchewan, as well as Manitoba and northwest Ontario," Morrison said in an interview with CBC.