Robinson Superior First Nations provided settlement offer from Canada over annuities owed

Details haven’t been made public yet about the settlement offer presented on Friday by Canada to the 12 First Nations in the Robinson Superior Treaty Territory.

It’s connected to a Supreme Court ruling from this summer where the Crown was found to have breached its duty to adjust annuity payments to First Nations sharing their land.

The Robinson-Superior and Robinson-Huron treaties were negotiated between the First Nations people living around Lake Superior and Lake Huron and the Crown in 1850. (File photo/Supplied/Archives Canada)

The Robinson-Superior and Robinson-Huron treaties were negotiated between the First Nations people living around Lake Superior and Lake Huron and the Crown in 1850. They were promised annual payments in exchange for the right to extract resources from their land. That amount was supposed to increase over time, but in 1875 was capped at $4 per person.

The court ruling from July 2024 found the Ontario and Canadian governments had a mandatory obligation to raise that amount.

The legal battle for fair payments has been ongoing for more than 20 years. The First Nations of Robinson Superior started in 1999, while their Robinson Huron counterparts began in 2012.

First Nations under the Robinson Huron Treaty settled their case in 2023 for $10 billion, with half coming from Ontario and half coming from Canada.

A spokesperson for Crown Indigenous Relations said the Government of Canada “is committed to honouring Treaty relationships and working in partnership with First Nations to advance reconciliation and address past harms”, but added the discussions are confidential.

“The Supreme Court has given Canada and Ontario a clear timeline of six months to engage meaningfully and honourably with the Robinson Superior Treaty First Nations to try to find the common ground for reaching a negotiated resolution. The Government of Canada will respect this timeline,” government officials said in a statement Friday.

“This important work is underway and we look forward to continuing those discussions directly with the First Nations and Ontario and to advancing our joint work together at the negotiating table,” the statement also read.

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Ontario is expected to make its offer sometime in the new year prior to the Jan. 26, 2025, deadline imposed by the Supreme Court of Canada.

CTV News has learned that representatives from the 12 First Nations under the Robinson Superior Treaty territory will be meeting Dec. 23 to discuss the offer and their next steps.