A recent court decision will fundamentally reshape Crown-First Nations relations for decades to come
The Supreme Court of Canada, ruling on the treaty rights case involving the Robinson-Huron and Robinson-Superior treaties, has given one of the sharpest rebukes of the Government of Canada (and, in this instance, Ontario) in legal history.
Federal and provincial governments — current and historic — were chastised, criticized and legally spanked, in a decision that will resonate through the coming decades and that could transform Canada’s approach to resolving Indigenous legal grievances.
In the 1850 Robinson treaties, signed with First Nations along the northeast region of Lake Huron to the northwest part of Lake Superior, the British government agreed to an augmentation clause that would see the annuity paid to each individual increase as government revenue from the use of Indigenous territories went up.
For the rest of this column: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/supreme-court-gives-government-a-spanking-for-failing-to-uphold-indigenous-treaty-rights