A lengthy battle between the federal and provincial governments and 21 First Nations in the Lake Huron region, including the Nipissing First Nation, is a little closer to ending.
Indigenous communities are celebrating after a judge that the feds and Ontario government have to increase the annuities First Nation people were to receive in return for the governments using the land-based resources.
The terms of the increases were signed in the Robinson-Huron Treaty of 1850.
The amount was $4 a year per First Nation member.
However, in all that time, the annuity was never increased.
Decades of unsuccessful attempts to raise the annuity failed and finally, in 2013 the 21 Indigenous communities took the matter to court.
After five years of all parties involved preparing their cases and appearing in court, Justice Patricia Hennessy ruled that the federal and provincial governments did not honour the terms set out in the Robinson-Huron Treaty.
Both levels of government have 30 days to appeal Hennessy’s ruling which would take the issue to about the third week in January.
