THUNDER BAY — The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the hearing of an appeal of an important 2018 court ruling regarding annuity payments by the federal and Ontario governments to 21 northern Ontario First Nations.
The hearing was originally set for May 2020.
Now it's rescheduled for the first three weeks of January 2021.
In 2018 – after hearings in Thunder Bay and Sudbury – a Superior Court judge ruled in favour of the First Nations that signed the Robinson Superior and Robinson Huron treaties of 1850.
They had argued that the governments had failed to implement a provision that required periodic increases in annuity payments for the use of the land and resources they ceded to the Crown.
There has been no change in the annuity since it was set at $4 per person since 1874.
Ontario is appealing the decision on a number of grounds.
The federal government has not appealed.
In June of this year, a second court decision also supported the First Nations' position.
Ontario argued unsuccessfully that the Crown is immune from liability for breaches of fiduciary responsibility that occurred prior to the enactment of the Proceedings Against the Crown Act in 1963.
The court further ruled against Ontario's argument that the treaty annuity claims are barred by statutes of limitations.
Ontario filed a notice of appeal of these decisions in August, but the federal government has declined to appeal.
A hearing is now scheduled for early June 2021.
Depending on the outcome, the First Nations that signed the treaties 170 years ago stand to gain a significant increase in revenue.
An economic historian hired by them "came up with numbers, and the numbers are huge," said Mike Restoule, chair of the Robinson Huron Treaty Trust in a 2018 interview.
Restoule declined to reveal the consultant's precise findings.
