Treaty 3 Annuities Class Action

This website provides information on the Treaty 3 Annuities Class Action commenced by Maurice Law Barristers and Solicitors on behalf of Wabaseemoong Independent Nations and former Chief Waylon Scott.

The Class Action seeks damages arising from the Crown’s breaches of Treaty 3 in relation to the following:

• The failure to increase, index, or augment the annual payment of five dollars ($5) made to each Indian person under Treaty 3 (the “Annuity Payment”);
• The failure to fulfil the entitlement to agricultural implements, tools, livestock, seed, and instruction (the “Agricultural Benefits”) to encourage and support agriculture;
• The failure to fulfil the promise to expend fifteen hundred dollars ($1,500) per year on ammunition and twine (the “Ammunition and Twine Payment”); and
• The failure to increase, index, or augment the Ammunition and Twine Payment.

The Statement of Claim was filed on December 12, 2024 in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice at the Kenora Courthouse.

Because this is a class action, the Claim is brought not only on behalf of the Plaintiffs, but also on behalf of all class members unless they opt out. If the Court orders the Crown to pay damages, all members of the class and subclass will be entitled to receive a share of the total award, subject to certain conditions.

Treaty 3, also known as the North-West Angle Treaty, was signed on October 3, 1873 at the North- West Angle of Lake of the Woods. Its territory covers a large part of what is now northwestern Ontario and a small part of eastern Manitoba. Since the signing of Treaty 3, the Crown has never increased the Annuity Payment despite inflation and the erosion of its purchasing power over the subsequent decades. When the First Nations entered into Treaty, it was implicit that in exchange for surrendering vast tracts of territory, the Crown would share the wealth reaped from those
lands. The Crown broke its promise, and Treaty 3 First Nations and their members have been short-changed for over 150 years.

The time is ripe for bringing this Claim in light of the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent decision in Ontario v Restoule, 2024 SCC 27. In that case, the Supreme Court interpreted the promise in the Robinson Treaties as requiring the Crown to increase the annuity payment from time to time. Restoule has paved the way for claims for compensation under other Treaties, including Treaty 3.

In the Notice of Motion for Certification, the Class is defined as ‘any First Nation who is a
successor in interest to the bands that signed or adhered to Treaty 3,’ and includes the following First Nations:

• Animakee Wa Zhing #37
• Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation (Grassy Narrows First Nation)
• Anishnaabeg of Naongashiing (Big Island)
• Buffalo Point First Nation
• Couchiching First Nation
• Gakijiwanong Anishinaabe Nation (Lac La Croix First Nation)
• Band 826 “General List/Western”
• Iskatewizaagegan #39 Independent First Nation
• Lac Des Mille Lacs First Nation
• Lac Seul First Nation (Obishikokaang)
• Migisi Sahgaigan First Nation (Eagle Lake)
• Mishkosimininiziibiing First Nation (Big Grassy River)
• Mitaanjigamiing First Nation
• Naicatchewenin First Nation (Northwest Bay)
• Naotkamegwanning First Nation (Whitefish Bay)
• Nicickousemenecaning First Nation (Nigigoonsiminikaaning)
• Niisaachewan Anishinaabe Nation (Dalles)
• Northwest Angle No. 33 First Nation
• Obashkaandagaang First Nation (Washagamis Bay)
• Ojibway Nation of Saugeen
• Ojibways of Onigaming First Nation (Sabaskong)
• Rainy River First Nations (Manitou Rapids)
• Seine River First Nation
• Shoal Lake No. 40 First Nation
• Wabaseemoong Independent Nations
• Waabigonii Zaaga’igan (Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation)
• Wabauskang First Nation
• Wauzhushk Onigum Nation (Rat Portage)

The subclass, the “Treaty 3 Members Subclass,” consists of all living individuals who have received an Annuity Payment under Treaty 3 as a member of a First Nation in the First Nations Class.

Wabaseemoong Independent Nations and former Chief Waylon Scott are committed to
representing the interests of all Treaty 3 First Nations and their members in advancing the Treaty 3 Annuities Class Action.