The Manitoba Act, 1870 contains two provisions (ss. 31 and 32) that were supposed to ensure that the Métis had a land base in the province created by the statute. Section 31 provided that 1,400,000 acres of land in the province be distributed among the children of the Métis heads of family. The government of Canada was not only extremely slow in fulfilling this obligation, but also substituted the issuance of scrip (a piece of paper, exchangeable for land, that became marketable) for grants of land. As a result, many of the Métis children either did not receive or lost the land they were entitled to. The Supreme Court did not find that the Crown owed fiduciary obligations to the Métis in this context, but did find that the honour of the Crown had not been lived up to, and issued a declaration to that effect.