‘We’ve never surrendered the land’: Treaty 9 First Nations back in court
By Matt Prokopchuk, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, TBnewswatch.com
This article was originally published by Matt Prokopchuk, a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter with TBnewswatch.com.
Eleven First Nations from across Treaty 9 territory are back in court this week as the lawyer leading their case says the province is trying to “snuff out” ongoing litigation over far north resource development.
Lawyers representing the communities and Ontario were scheduled to be in a Toronto courtroom Thursday and Friday over legal action filed in 2023 by the First Nations. The communities which filed the initial suit are challenging what they’re saying is “unilateral decision-making” by Ontario and Canada over development in the Ring of Fire.
Earlier in December, Wunnumin Lake joined the case. Its chief, Archie Wabasse, told a news conference held prior to Thursday’s court hearing, that his community was prompted to join over concerns about their future.
“If the government is really taking up the lands and resources, it’s going to have an impact on us,” he said. “We’re going to be impacted because we won’t be able to practice and exercise our inherent right to hunt and trap and gather from the lands.”
“And also, the lands will also be affected.”
The 10 other communities involved are Attawapiskat, the Apitipi Anicinapek Nation, Aroland, Constance Lake, Eabametoong, Fort Albany, Ginoogaming, Kashechewan, Kichenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug and Neskantaga.
In the initial filing, the First Nations said their aim was to “enshrine a dual decision-making regime into law,” and that their argument revolves around a dispute over the interpretation of Treaty 9.
“We’re going to court today, where Ontario — before any evidence has been led in our case about First Nations right for jurisdiction over the land, co-jurisdiction with the Crown, equal decision-making authority with the Crown — Ontario is trying to take that case away,” Kate Kempton, senior counsel at Woodward & Company LLP, said at the Thursday morning press conference.
“Essentially saying ‘colonialism happened, you’re pooched, it’s too late.”
As reported by The Trillium, the province filed a motion to dismiss the action on the basis that Treaty 9 doesn’t impact Crown sovereignty over those lands, and without jurisdiction “there’s no ‘reasonable cause of action’ for the First Nation legal claim.”
Wabasse, in Wunnumin Lake, echoed the argument that elders and Indigenous leaders who signed on to Treaty 9 weren’t aware of the full extent of what they were signing, and that the agreement was effectively “imposed” on them.
“We’re trying to convince the Crown this is not the way our elders understood the treaty,” he said. “Because our elders, our ancestors, couldn’t read the document.”
“And they call it negotiation.”
Since the suit was first filed in 2023, Ontario and Canada have each passed legislation (formerly known as Bill 5 and Bill C-5), which opponents — including First Nations and environmental groups — say trample on Indigenous and treaty rights.
Both levels of government have repeatedly said the laws aren’t about taking away those rights and that the duty to consult with First Nations remains.
On Thursday, the provincial and federal governments also announced they signed an agreement that enshrines a new “one project, one process, one decision’ environmental assessment model.
In a media release, the Ontario government said it will “remove duplicative and overlapping federal impact assessments from Ontario’s world-leading environmental assessment process to build infrastructure faster and unlock resource development across the province.”
Ontario has also announced criteria to designate “special economic zones” (a significant part of the former Bill 5, now called the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act) will come into effect on Jan. 1, 2026.
“We’ve never surrendered the land, we’ve never surrendered our jurisdiction,” Wabasse said.
“That’s the argument that we need to resolve between the Crown — Canada and Ontario.”
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