Ontario's Superior Court of Justice has resumed hearing a case involving the interpretation of treaties that were signed 167 years ago.
First Nations that were party to the Robinson Superior and Robinson Huron treaties with the Crown back in 1850 are challenging what they allege is the government's failure to implement the "annuity augmentation" provision of the treaties.
The treaties committed the Crown to provide annuities as the lands that were ceded produced revenue, and the annuity was to increase when revenues increased, "provided that the amount paid to each individual shall not exceed the sum of one pound Provincial currency in any one year, or such further sum as Her Majesty may be graciously pleased to order."
The initial payment was $2 per individual, and it was last increased in 1874, to $4 per person.
Robinson Superior treaty signatories included First Nations along the Lake Superior shoreline and farther north, while parties to the Robinson Huron treaty were located in northeastern Ontario.
When court proceedings opened in Thunder Bay last September, Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde said he hoped the interpretation of the treaty would not rely strictly on a legal interpretation.
"We would hope that the judge and the lawyers enlarge their scope of mind and look at it from the spirit and intent," Bellegarde said.
Hearings resumed this month in Sudbury, and are expected to continue through February at least.
In what's believed to be an unprecedented decision, the court is allowing the proceedings to be livestreamed here.
