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The Supreme Court of Canada has delivered a landmark ruling declaring that the Crown “dishonourably breached” a historic set of treaties and must negotiate compensation with First Nations plaintiffs.
The panel of nine judges ruled unanimously in a case that applies to lands across northern Ontario covered by agreements known as the Robinson Treaties, which leaders signed back in 1850.
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Under the agreements, the Anishinaabe of Lake Huron and Lake Superior ceded huge parts of their territories to the Crown in exchange for annual payments that were meant to increase over time.
However, those payments only ever saw one increase back in 1875 and currently remain set at $4.
In its unanimous decision, Justice Mahmud Jamal calls the amount “shocking” and a “mockery” of its treaty promise.
The court says that breach has left the region’s Anishinaabe “with an empty shell of a treaty promise for almost a century and a half.”
“The Crown cannot reasonably have believed that giving its treaty partners $4 each annually since 1875 was in any way honourable,” Jamal wrote.
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The court says the Crown has seen huge economic benefits in the way of mining and other forms of development since the treaties were signed, while the Anishinaabe have lived in substandard housing and under boil water advisories.
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“One treaty partner has thrived, while the other has often experienced immense hardship,” the decision reads.
While the Huron plaintiffs reached an earlier settlement with Ontario and Canada, the top court directs the Crown to negotiate with the Superior plaintiffs to compensate them for payments owned from 1875 to present date.
The court says the parties have six months to negotiate a settlement, which could end up back in court if they do not agree.
“The Robinson Treaties are not merely transactional instruments about the exchange of money for a tract of land,” the decision says, adding they apply to the relationship that exists today between the First Nations and the Crown.
“It is time for the parties to return to the council fire and rekindle the perpetual relationship that the Robinson Treaties envision. Nothing less will demonstrate the Crown’s commitment to reconciliation.”
National Post
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