The federal and Ontario governments are awaiting a Supreme Court ruling that could eventually force them to pay up to $126 billion to 21 First Nations in northern Ontario with a total population of 35,000.
The highest court in the country is currently considering two causes of non-compliance with treaties. In 1850, the Anishinaabe living on the northern shores of Lake Huron and Lake Superior agreed to cede their lands to the British Crown, in return for an annual income per person which was to increase with economic development.
However, the annuity was indeed increased to reach $4 per person in 1875, but it remained unchanged over the 148 years that followed.
The First Nations, who believe that the country was able to enrich itself thanks to their ceded territories, took the matter to the Ontario Superior Court for non-compliance with the treaties, after receiving a proposed settlement of $10 billion.
According to what Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz argued before the Ontario Court as an expert witness, indigenous peoples could receive compensation of up to $126 billion due to the resources exploited on their territories, such as timber and mines. The Ontario government had argued that infrastructure development in the north had caused it to “lose” between $7 and $12 billion.
On Tuesday, the government admitted before the Supreme Court that the treaties had indeed not been respected.
“I recognize that 150 years without an increase after 1875 constitutes a breach of the honor of the Crown. […] I am not trying to plead to ask for an absolution,” said the lawyer for the Ontario government, Peter Griffin, quoted by the “Globe and Mail”.
However, governments judge that it is not up to the court to determine the amount of compensation that must be paid. Courts should simply issue guidelines to allow parties to negotiate, prosecutors argued.