Crown Must Settle With First Nations for Breaching Robinson Treaties: Supreme Court

The Crown dishonourably breached the Robinson Treaties and must negotiate a settlement with First Nations within six months, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled. The two treaties were signed in 1850, ceding a large swath of land in Ontario to the Crown in return for annual payments to the Anishinaabe of lakes Huron and Superior. The treaties said the payments should increase over time, so long as the Crown did not incur a loss, but they have been frozen at $4 per person since 1875. In a ruling on July 26, the Supreme Court said the Ontario and Canadian governments had a mandatory obligation to raise that amount when economic circumstances warranted....