Our Annuities Trial
Our Annuities Case – RHT LITIGATION FUND UPDATE By Laura Sharp, Associate, Nahwegahbow Corbiere
Overview: When the Robinson Huron Treaty was signed in 1850, the Crown paid the Anishinaabe an upfront lump sum of 2000 pounds and promised to continue paying a perpetual annuity of 600 pounds, which at the time worked out to about $1.70 per person. This perpetual annuity, however, would be increased in accordance with the Treaty’s augmentation clause if certain conditions were met. The augmentation clause provides as follows: The said William Benjamin Robinson, on behalf of Her Majesty, who desires to deal liberally and justly with all Her subjects, further promises and agrees that in case the Ancestral Lands hereby ceded by the parties of the second part shall at any future period produce an amount which will enable the Government of this Province, without incurring loss, to increase the annuity hereby secured to them, then and in that case the same shall be augmented from time to time, provided that the amount paid to each individual shall not exceed the sum of one pound Provincial currency [equivalent to $4.00] in any one year, or such further sum as Her Majesty may be graciously pleased to order. The annuity was augmented once in 1875 to 1 pound [$4.00] per person, but has not been augmented since,
despite the fact that the Crown (as well as private entities) have generated significant wealth from the Treaty territory, largely through the extraction of resource-based revenues. In 2014, the Robinson Huron Treaty Anishinaabek sued the governments of Canada and Ontario for breach of treaty, breach of the honour of the Crown and breach of fiduciary duty. The Robinson Huron Treaty case was heard by the court alongside a similar case brought by two First Nations under the Robinson Superior Treaty of 1850, which contains the same augmentation clause. Due to the many complex issues and volume of evidence involved, the trial was divided into three separate stages in order to make the process more manageable.
Please visit robinsonhurontreaty1850.com for trial dates and for web links to watch the livestream of the stage 1 and stage 2 appeals.
E-Wiindamaagejig: The Robinson Huron Treaty Times |
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