Members of a group of Robinson Huron Treaty settlement beneficiaries who have yet to receive compensation from a historic settlement for unpaid past annuities are expressing a range of opinions over the amount offered to them.
Most of the $10-billion settlement from the Robinson Huron Treaty litigation has been distributed, except for the one per cent deemed for non-member beneficiaries.
Those beneficiaries are now allowed to apply for compensation from the $100-million fund set aside for them.
The annuities case involves the retroactive amount owed to the 21 Robinson Huron Treaty First Nations for access to natural resources in the treaty territory, covering about 92,000 square kilometres to the north and east of Lake Huron.
Annual payments to treaty members had been set at $4 per person since 1875, despite promises to increase the annuity as the value of the land’s resources grew over time.
The $10-billion settlement was signed in 2024. The trustees of the settlement agreed to set aside one per cent of it for Indigenous people with no affiliation to member First Nations, but who are also annuitants in Robinson Huron territory.
What sets this group apart is that they are Robinson Huron Anishnabek, but they don’t hold membership in any of the 21 First Nations that signed the 1850 treaty.
While some are grateful, others feel the amount offered is too little, too late.
This group includes people who may have held membership in one of the 21 First Nations but who lost it through marriage or other life events, and people who have received status cards from Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) and have been placed on what is known as the Sudbury 817 General List.
Chief Angus Toulouse is a trustee on the litigation committee that oversees the settlement funds and chief of Sagamok Anishnawbek.
He said the committee decided that these beneficiaries should each receive a lump sum, or base amount of $20,000, with an additional $500 for each year since birth.
He said it’s spelled out in the compensation disbursement agreement.
“The distribution to be allocated to each successful applicant shall not be more than the least amount that is distributed on a per-capita basis to individuals from the Lake Huron First Nation,” he said.
While about 1,000 people are registered on the Sudbury General List, Toulouse doesn’t know how many other eligible applicants there may be.
However, he said he does expect the whole fund will be paid out.
“I don’t know the exact numbers, but the different analysis that’s been undertaken suggests that the full one per cent fund will be taken up by the eligible applicants that we’re going to see come through the portal and getting their compensation.”
Should any money be left over, Toulouse said, it would go back to the litigation fund to be distributed to the 21 First Nations.
Concerns offer may infringe treaty rights
Some on the Sudbury General List, including Jesse Guertin, said the $20,000 per-capita base amount is a fraction of what individual members of First Nations have received.
In an email to CBC, Guertin cited amounts of $100,000 per capita and more for several First Nations, based on band communications.
Guertin wrote he feels the offer to non-members is an infringement of their treaty rights and that the Robinson Huron Treaty Litigation Fund (RHTLF) has adopted policies that have reduced them to second-class Anishinabek citizens.
“We are fighting for the recognition of our rights, from our ancestors to our children, grandchildren and the next seven generations,” he wrote.
He said the general list members don’t get any funds similar to those allocated to First Nations for community improvement.
“We do not benefit from any of the collective trust funding including any programs and services that are said to be for all Robinson Huron Anishinabek,” he wrote.
Toulouse responded by saying these non-members may visit extended family living in a First Nation and take part in activities in the community.
But that isn’t enough for Guertin.
“The lawyers, who were responsible for advancing the interests of all RHT annuitants equally are hiding behind a ‘collective-only’ narrative,” he wrote in an email to CBC.
“They are using this to justify capping unaffiliated individuals at a tiny fraction of what band members received.”
He told the CBC that he has retained legal counsel to proceed with an application to transfer the one per cent fund to an independent trustee to manage the funds and distribution to eligible Sudbury General List annuitants.
It’s not a fight that everyone wants.
‘More thankful than I am upset’
Kelly Simon is also on the Sudbury General List and has already applied for her portion of compensation.
She said she’s grateful the litigation fund recognized her family and set aside money for them.
“It’s just nice that we were included, maybe not to the full amount as the other 21 First Nations, but we were included and I am just more thankful than I am upset.”
It’s not clear how Guertin’s steps towards legal action may affect the payout to other eligible members, but Simon said she won’t be taking that route.
“I don’t think I have it in me to go into a legal battle … life’s too short.”
Toulouse said more than 140 people have applied for their portion of compensation in the past two weeks.
Applicants have until September 2027 to apply.
