cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/25784823
An “egregious” refusal by successive Canadian governments to honor a key treaty signed with Indigenous nations made a “mockery” of the deal and deprived generations of fair compensation for their resources, Canada’s top court has ruled.
But while the closely watched decision will likely yield billions in payouts, First Nation chiefs say the ruling adds yet another hurdle in the multi-decade battle for justice.
In a scathing and unanimous decision released on Friday, Canada’s supreme court sharply criticized both the federal and Ontario governments for their “dishonourable” conduct around a 174-year-old agreement, which left First Nations people to struggle in poverty while surrounding communities, industry and government exploited the abundant natural resources in order to enrich themselves.
“For almost a century and a half, the Anishinaabe have been left with an empty shell of a treaty promise,” the court wrote in the landmark ruling.
I wonder what this will mean for the case happening at Sauble Beach. It was recently decided that the Saugeen Ojibwe Nation are the rightful owners of the beach, but since the federal government was paying for the SON’s lawyers they say the feds aren’t liable. Then the province pushed it onto the township, which was a creation of the provincial government and didn’t exist at the time of the treaty. It’s a whoooole lot of bullshit. Not that they own the beach, that it’s the responsibility of the municipality to make them whole. Meanwhile the shores of the beach are awash with lawyer bills piled higher than the dunes.