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Sudbury hearing will decide compensation for broken treaties

A Nobel Prize-winning economist testified that First Nations in northern Ontario may have been stiffed $100B under a pair of treaties signed nearly two centuries ago
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Chief Dean Sayers, of the Batchewana First Nation of Ojibways near Sault Ste. Marie, speaks at a media conference held by the First Nations in the Robinson-Huron Treaty in this 2018 file photo. The court cases involving the Robinson Huron Treaty and Robinson Superior Treaty are separate, with both being heard simultaneously by Ontario Superior Court Justice Patricia Hennessy during court proceedings at Laurentian University’s Canisius Hall.

Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz was in a Sudbury courtroom this week, explaining why First Nations in northern Ontario may have been stiffed more than $100 billion under a pair of treaties signed more than 170 years ago. 

Testimony from one of the world’s leading economists is just the latest twist in a long and complex legal dispute where First Nations under the 1850 Robinson treaties are fighting Canada and Ontario for an increase in “annuities,” or annual treaty payments — an assertion the courts have already agreed with — because of a treaty clause promising the Anishinabek increases as the government’s revenue from resource development grew. 

Anishinaabe treaty beneficiaries have not seen a payment increase since 1874, when it was bumped up to $4 a year. 

The court cases involving the Robinson Huron Treaty and Robinson Superior Treaty are separate, with both being heard simultaneously by Ontario Superior Court Justice Patricia Hennessy during court proceedings at the University of Sudbury's Canisius Hall.

Robinson Huron Treaty representatives have been engaged in confidential settlement talks with the province since mid-January. The Robinson Superior Treaty annuities case, meanwhile, is still being heard in court. 

The legal proceedings are so complex they’ve been broken up into three stages. The plaintiffs have won the previous two stages, after successfully arguing that both the federal and provincial governments have an obligation to pay the increased treaty annuities. 

Hennessy also ruled the new, beefed-up annuity should give treaty signatories a chunk of the wealth generated through the extraction of natural resources on treaty territory. 

While Canada is not appealing those previous decisions, Ontario has decided to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada after the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld Justice Hennessy’s decision.   

The hearing for Ontario’s Supreme Court appeal is slated for the fall of 2023, with a possible decision as early as spring or early summer 2024.

The third stage of the proceedings, which will deal with the amount of compensation owed to beneficiaries under the treaty — and which levels of government will be liable to pay the increased annuities — began in Sudbury last month.

The court case is now working through a slew of economic data going back 170 years, with Stiglitz — once an economic advisor to former U.S. President Bill Clinton and his administration — providing expert testimony. 

While Stiglitz says the tab incurred by the feds and the province over treaty payments to the Anishinaabe along Lake Superior and Lake Huron is more than $100 billion due to the wealth generated through natural resource extraction on treaty territory, Ontario has argued the expenses incurred through extraction and the cost of “colonization” infrastructure have resulted in Crown losses in the ballpark of $7 billion to $12 billion. 

To further complicate an already complex court battle, Canada and Ontario are also at odds with each other when it comes to determining which government is on the hook for money owed to treaty beneficiaries. 

The hearing continues Monday morning with Village Media providing ongoing coverage of the proceedings.


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James Hopkin

About the Author: James Hopkin

James Hopkin is a reporter for SooToday in Sault Ste. Marie
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