First Nation files legal challenge over 150-year-old Treaty 4 – Winnipeg Free Press

The chief of the Waywayseecappo First Nation is leading a prospective class action lawsuit representing indigenous communities challenging claims to a nearly 150-year-old treaty.

The complaint, filed Jan. 29 in the Manitoba Crown Court, seeks reversals and amendments to the annuity agreements approved by the federal government when Condition 4 was entered into.

It is the latest in a series of similar lawsuits filed in Manitoba, which collectively represents 85 First Nations in treaty areas in Western Canada.

Waywayseecappo Chief Murray Kliarski filed the new claim on behalf of himself and members of 33 First Nations in Treaty 4 (which includes parts of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta).

“Today is an important step towards ensuring justice and accountability. “Bringing these class actions against the Crown is critical to righting the historic wrongs inflicted on Treaty 4 First Nations,” Klersky said in a press release Tuesday.

“These procedures seek to deliver on the Crown's commitments to our members and children, ensuring that those promises are not just made, but kept.”

Considered the claim Free pressThe Attorney General of Canada is named as a defendant and claims that the federal government failed to uphold the agreement by failing to update annual payments to agreement members to account for inflation.

Since the treaty was signed in 1874, annuity payments have remained at $5 per member.

While the money was once enough to buy “food and necessities to survive in a changing economy,” it no longer serves as a “token amount,” the lawsuit said.

“It is necessary to adjust the nominal value of money according to the intention and spirit of the parties at the time of making the contract,” it says.

The suit is seeking $100 million in damages, along with an unspecified amount retroactive to when the settlement was signed.

Other Treaty 4 leaders filed similar lawsuits on behalf of their members in the Federal Court of Canada. Legal actions are pursued concurrently in the provincial and federal court systems.

In less than a year, Fisher River (Treaty 5), Lake Manitoba (Treaty 2) and Roseau River (Treaty 1) members also filed lawsuits on behalf of their respective treaty areas, demanding that the Canadian government change their annual membership terms. annuity payments.

All complaints remained in the regional court system and the judge dismissed them.

Collectively, the lawsuit represents thousands of Indigenous people and the ruling could further set a legal precedent for how similar claims are handled in Canada, said Leo Bascatavang, an Indigenous scholar and assistant professor of law at the University of Manitoba.

“These cases are going to be very complicated, of course,” he said on Tuesday.

The recent legal activity may be the result of an agreement reached in Ontario last year in which First Nations bound by the Robinson-Huron and Robinson-Superior treaties will receive $10 billion in unpaid annuities from the provincial and federal governments. 1850.

In that case, the original treaties contained an escalation clause that acknowledged the crown may one day need to adjust the annuity payments, Baskatawang said.

Litigation in Manitoba would not be so simple, but the numbered contracts do not have such a clause, he added.

“What I expect from the government is to stand for a clear and literal interpretation of the agreement, which is basically that the government is obligated to pay $5 every year,” Bascatavang said.

“Plaintiffs argue that this does not meet the purpose and intent of the annuity payment, which is to provide a living wage.”

The law professor said he hopes the parties can reach an out-of-court settlement that would save years of litigation and legal fees.

“Canada is built on a relationship of peace and friendship and mutual benefit … but the agreements, especially on the part of the Canadian government, have been somewhat forgotten,” Bascatawang said.

In October 2023, the federal government filed a statement of defense in the Roseau River lawsuit; asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit.

“Canada has no obligation to adjust, index to inflation or otherwise 'update' the amounts paid to the beneficiaries of the agreement,” the statement said. “Canada states that the parties to the contract did not intend the annuity to provide anything other than the fixed payment specified in the text of the contract.”

The federal government did not provide statements on other numbered contracts awarded in Manitoba.

Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada acknowledged receiving a request for comment on Tuesday, but did not respond by deadline.

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