ÎYÂRHE NAKODA FIRST NATION – A class action lawsuit has been launched by Bearspaw First Nation against the federal government, claiming it has failed to maintain the value of annuity payments under Treaty No. 7.
The 40-page lawsuit, filed Nov. 25, is seeking to adjust the annual $5 paid to each member of a Treaty No. 7 nation in Alberta to adjust for inflation in the more than 140 years since it was signed.
“We have not been a priority on getting discussions to lead to results. We’re not asking for a handout. Five dollars is not what it is in 1877 that it is today,” said Bearspaw First Nation Chief Darcy Dixon. “We’re asking what was promised at treaty.
“If you look at the treaty text, what it states is we’d be treated no different than any other treaty that was made across Canada and given at that time.”
Dixon said he will often get questions from community members on protecting the interest of residents covered by Treaty 7. He said an area of discussion has been the $5 received annually by each resident, but that inflation has considerably changed since 1877.
Dixon said they have had conversations with the federal government, but looked at the best way to proceed in representing the First Nation’s and Treaty 7 residents.
“There needs to be an adjustment made. The cost of living has gone up. You look across Canada and see the benefits big corporations and governments have got from the lands that treaty nations agreed to share at the time of signing. … It was to help one another and share on good faith on a promise on how collectively as told by our elders how both sides can benefit,” he said.
Sonny Cochrane, co-managing partner of Winnipeg-based Cochrane Sinclair Law and legal representation for the lawsuit, said the minimum aim is to adjust the $5 to inflation. He added an annuity of $25 to each Nation’s chief, $15 annuity to each councillor and $2,000 ammunition annuity, but the focus is $5 for each Treaty 7 resident.
“The $5 has not been increased since 1877 and back then $5 was enough for a family to get through the winter. That was intent. Today, $5 can’t buy you a Tim Hortons coffee and a breakfast sandwich,” he said. “The way Canada has treated this annuity payment, it’s really resolved to an empty shell of a promise that was and is an important promise.
“On a scale of one to 10 for exploitative actions by the Canadian government, this is an 11. Canada’s neglect to adjust the $5 from 1877 is shameful and a disgrace when you consider how many billions and billions have been taken from Treaty 7 territory. … It’s intended to correct the historical wrong that has happened and continues to happen today.”
As part of Treaty 7, each year payments are made to residents. Typically done in the summer, it has RCMP representatives visit each First Nation on scheduled days to give residents the $5 set under the treaty.
The first part of the lawsuit will have Bearspaw First Nation represent Treaty 7, but each individual treaty Nation can choose to opt-in. Both Dixon and Cochrane said it was important to respect the First Nation’s autonomy in making a decision.
For Treaty 7 residents, they are automatically part of the suit but can choose to opt-out.
Dixon said informal discussions have happened with other Treaty 7 First Nations and will continue.
“If we’re able to try come to an agreement with the Crown for today’s younger people and those yet to be born, I think it’s going to ensure it’ll make a difference not just what is promised with treaty but moving forward on what to expect what those promises were understood from both sides.”
The next step is for the lawsuit to be certified by the court, with discussions between the legal representation and Crown to likely occur. Cochrane Sinclair Law has previously filed similar cases for Treaty 2 and 5.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court of Canada released a decision that the federal and Ontario governments breached their treaty obligations to signatories of the Robinson Huron and Robinson Superior treaties.
The highest Canadian court found the two governments failed to fulfill promises of increasing annual payments in the annuities augmentation clause, with the last increase being in 1875 and it set at $4 per person each year.
Cochrane said he felt the ruling would have an impact on the Bearspaw First Nation launched lawsuit. He noted an augmentation clause for annuity payments being adjusted isn’t specifically written into Treaty 7, but a promise made that other treaties would impact Treaty 7 was.
“That’s the linkage we’ve made to the augmentation and that’s the tie-in into that treaty. It’s that promise that was made that ties it to the augmentation,” he said.
Dixon said it was unfortunate to have to go through the courts, but that it was important to uphold treaty rights for residents.
“It came to being other tribes across Canada have pursued this,” he said. “Some have been successful and some are already in the courts, so [Bearspaw] leadership felt rather than sitting back and waiting for other treaty nations to fix some of the wrongs, we are a treaty nation so why don’t we fix it ourselves.”
Treaty No. 7 was signed by the Bearspaw, Chiniki and Goodstoney First Nations of the Îyârhe Nakoda First Nation as well as Blood Tribe, Piikani and Siksika Nation of Blackfoot Confederacy and Tsuut’ina Nation.
It was signed in 1877 at Blackfoot Crossing and established an area of land for the First Nations, but also promised annual payments, provisions and continued hunting and trapping rights in exchange of the nations ceding rights to their traditional territory.
It covers about 130,000 square kilometres of land. There are roughly 30,000 residents covered under Treaty 7, including about 5,400 people on the three Îyârhe Nakoda First Nation.
In a statement, Indigenous Services Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada stated they had yet to receive the lawsuit and weren’t in a position to comment.
However, the two federal agencies noted it was important to honour treaty relationships and work with Indigenous peoples.
“Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada recognizes that more needs to be done with regard to renewing the Treaty relationship and remains open to looking at ways to advance this important work, said Anis Piragasanathar, a spokesperson for the agencies.
In 2023, Bearspaw First Nation filed a lawsuit against the federal government, claiming it lost money in several months' delay in signing off on a trust money transfer in 2021.
The lawsuit claims Bearspaw First Nation lost about $5 million between May and August, 2021 before the federal government signed off on the transfer that’s invested in the Ozîja Thiha Legacy Trust.
The federal government held about $150 million in capital funds on behalf of the three Îyârhe Nakoda First Nations before Bearspaw’s $53 million share was withdrawn.
Cochrane said the lawsuit aims to correct a long-held error and to better represent Indigenous rights under Treaty 7.
“It’s about correcting a historical wrong that for almost the last 150 years has continued,” Cochrane said. “The treaty relationship is a sacred relationship. One side of that relationship has benefitted and it has not been Treaty 7 citizens or nations. The billions and billions that has been extracted from Treaty 7 territory has not benefitted Treaty 7 nations or citizens.
“This is in part to address that historical wrong. Frankly, I think it’s shameful Canada has not adjusted the annuity payment given the billions of dollars it has benefitted on Treaty 7 territory. We’re here to correct that historical wrong.”