Utoo Radio with Other News Sources - July 26 2024 - The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that the governments of Ontario and Canada have made a "mockery" of their treaty obligations to the Anishinaabe of the upper Great Lakes for the past 150 years.

The ruling states that the ongoing failure to increase the annual per-head resource extraction revenues since 1875 for the residents of two First Nations groups has undermined the Crown's honour.

The ruling does not award a settlement to the Huron or Superior Anishinaabe First Nations, but sets out the obligations of the Crown to negotiate an increase to resource revenues retrospectively and into the future.

The Robinson-Superior and Robinson-Huron treaties were negotiated between the Crown and the First Nations people living around Lake Superior and Lake Huron in 1850.

Under the Robinson-Huron treaty, each First Nation member received $1.70 per head a year, while under the Robinson-Superior treaty, the rate was $1.60 per person. In 1875, that annual payment was increased to $4 per person, but since then, it had not increased. The ruling states that the Crown must increase the annuity under the Robinson treaties beyond $4 per person retrospectively, from 1875 to the present.

The Ontario and federal governments must use that standard of honour when striking revenue-sharing agreements with the Huron and Superior Anishinaabe.

The Hurons reached a final settlement of $10 billion with the Ontario and federal governments last year for past breaches of the Robinson-Huron treaty. The Supreme Court made no orders with respect to the settlement agreement with the Hurons. The Superior Anishinaabe took their claim to Ontario Superior Court, which came to a ruling in September.