OTTAWA,
ON, July 26, 2024 /CNW/ - The Supreme Court of
Canada has chastised the
Ontario and federal governments
for an "egregious" breach of a 175-year old treaty, and ordered
them to move quickly to compensate a group of First Nations located
north of Lake Superior and
Lake Huron.
Using unusually harsh language in its unanimous decision, the
Court gave the governments six months to pay just compensation for
its refusal to increase the annuities under the Robinson Treaties
of 1850, in keeping with the "honour of the Crown."
Representatives of the Robinson Superior Treaty group hailed the
decision as a major landmark along the road to reconciliation that
demands governments make good on their promises.
Harley Schachter, counsel for
Red Rock First Nation and Whitesand
First Nation, expressed delight at the Supreme Court's recognition
that the governments neglected their First Nations treaty partners
- even as they permitted the rampant exploitation of natural
resources from land within the treaty territory; wealth that they
had promised to share, but did not.
"The Court took these breaches very seriously," he told
reporters. Mr. Schachter said the Court made it clear that judges
have an important role to play in future treaty disputes to ensure
that governments uphold the honour of the Crown so that true
reconciliation is achieved.
"The Supreme Court has ruled today that governments are not
above the law," he said. "It is a sacred relationship between First
Nations and the Crown. It is a partnership, not a
dictatorship."
The Supreme Court found that the government's attitude made "a
mockery" of the treaty promise and left the Anishinaabe with "an
empty shell of a treaty promise."
Chief Lawrence Wanakamik, Chief
of Whitesand First Nation, said that he was overcome with emotion
when he heard of the Court decision.
"We have struggled a lot over the last 175 years," he said. Once
his communities have been properly compensated. Chief Wanakamik
said, upgrading health services is likely to be their highest
priority.
The Court found there was a flagrant disregard of promises made
in the 1850 Robinson Superior and Robinson
Huron treaties, and that the Indigenous signatories received
next to nothing.
"The Crown has severely undermined both the spirit and substance
of the Robinson treaties," the Court said, adding that governments
must now act quickly to fulfill their dishonoured promises.
Prior to the Supreme Court hearing the appeal last fall, the
trial judge in the sprawling case - Justice Patricia Hennessy of Ontario Superior Court- had
embarked on the final phase of the litigation, which involved an
assessment of how much the plaintiffs are owed in compensation.
Her decision on the compensation issue is currently under
reserve and will remain so for another six months to give the
parties time to try and come to a mutually acceptable agreement in
relation to past compensation to be paid.
Justice Hennessy heard intensely
human testimony from Indigenous chiefs and elders about the abject
poverty their people have lived in at the same time as logging and
mining companies were exploiting their natural resources. They told
of growing up in tarpaper shacks where large families had no
plumbing or insulation, and slept on floors. Food was scarce or
unobtainable. Winters were virtually unbearable.
Yet, just kilometres away, large companies such as
Kimberley-Clarke were reaping handsome profits from sawmills or
mining operations located on their land.
Under the treaties, the annuity was to be augmented over time in
keeping with the rising economic value of the land. However, a
recalculation took place only once - in 1874. It has remained at
$4 per person since 1875.
The Ontario government's legal
position was that the province suffered a net loss in developing
this resource-rich region over the past 150 years. It claimed that
the costs of colonization - building railroads, roads, insect
control, land surveys, and so on - should be subtracted from its
net value. It alleged a net loss of $7-12 billion.
Economists testified that as much as tens of billions of dollars
are owed to the Indigenous communities. Included in their
calculations were the opportunity cost of wasteful decision-making;
the giving away of free hydroelectricity and undervalued stumpage
rates and mining rights to industry; the deprivation of the ability
of the Anishinaabe to create proper educational and health
facilities; and the fact they Ontario procured the treaty acting in a
monopolistic manner.
In stark contrast to Ontario's
position, the federal government conceded that the treaty
beneficiaries are owed a considerable sum.
Unless the governments meet their obligations honourably for
payment of past breaches of the treat by Jan. 26, 2025, the Lake
Superior plaintiffs will return to the Court to seek
compensation for these historic wrongs.
SOURCE Stockwoods LLP