Northern Ontario First Nations take federal and Ontario governments to court over $4 annual treaty payments – CBC

Beneficiaries of the Robinson-Huron Treaty have not seen annuities go up since 1874

Sep 25, 2017

Twenty-one First Nations in northern Ontario are taking the federal and Ontario governments to court in Thunder Bay, Ont. on Monday to demand an increase to their annuities, which have not been raised in over 140 years.

Since 1874, beneficiaries of the Robinson-Huron Treaty have been collecting $4 annually.

The treaty was originally signed in 1850. It stated that payments were supposed to increase if the resource revenues generated from the territory produced such an amount as to enable an increase without incurring a loss, according to Serpent River First Nation Chief Elaine Johnston.

“So Canada and Ontario receive revenues from the land that we agreed to those treaties,” Johnston said.

Read More: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/robinson-huron-treaty-annuities-claim-court-case-1.4303287