Robinson Huron Treaty Meeting Fights Misinformation Online

The appeal of a court decision that dramatically scaled back tens of millions of dollars in legal fees for the Robinson Huron Treaty annuities claim could be heard later this year. That was one of the key messages delivered by legal counsel for Garden River First Nation and Atikameksheng Anishnawbek during a public information session held at the Garden River Recreation Centre last night. “We want to take the earliest date on which the court can hear us,” Michael Rosenberg, a lawyer with McCarthy Tétrault LLP, told reporters prior to the presentation. The appeal goes back to October 2025, when an Ontario court judge ruled the lawyers’ bill was unreasonable and ordered it to be scaled back to $23 million — more than a year after Garden River and Atikameksheng first challenged the legal fees in Ontario Superior Court. The Robinson Huron Treaty settlement, which compensated 21 First Nations for unpaid treaty annuities, was reached in 2023. It resulted in a $10-billion settlement, with a five-per-cent contingency fee going to the lawyers who argued the case on behalf of the Robinson Huron Litigation Fund, a trust representing 21 First Nations and more than 30,000 treaty beneficiaries. The litigation fund was represented in court by Orillia-based law firm Nahwegahbow Corbiere Genoodmagejig Barristers and Solicitors. Last night’s information session was well attended, with many treaty beneficiaries from other communities participating either in person or virtually. “We opened up this space for not just Garden River members, but all members within the area that wanted to come and hear the legal firm speak on the matter, so that we all get the same messaging," said Chief Karen Bell of Garden River First Nation. "There's lots of social media comments that are maybe not as accurate as they should be, and this is where that accuracy is going to come from." Bell and Atikameksheng Anishnawbek Chief Craig Nootchtai asked the court for a review of the legal fees in June 2024, after both leaders opposed a motion brought forward by RHTLF to pay out more than $500 million to lawyers. In response, lawyers agreed to set aside half of their legal fees from that court case — amounting to $255 million — to support various Anishinabek causes, including future litigation. Rosenberg recalled that there was “pretty fierce resistance to the assessment” from the Litigation Management Committee of the Robinson Huron Treaty Litigation Fund, its lawyers and trustees of the litigation fund at the time. The review of the legal fees was eventually granted by the court in November 2024. When the dispute over the fees was heard in court this past October, Ontario Superior Court Justice Fred Myers found the contingency fee for the legal team was “neither fair nor reasonable,” and that lawyers gave incorrect advice in an effort to pressure First Nations into approving the legal fees — without being given an opportunity to seek independent legal advice. Myers ordered the fees to be held in trust pending an appeal. He also awarded costs to the two First Nations, so they wouldn’t have to pay out-of-pocket legal expenses given that the decision was for the benefit of all communities. In November 2025, however, the lawyers confirmed they would be appealing that decision. There have been two parallel appeals filed by the legal team, which is composed of six lawyers. “This appeal is no longer about principles of First Nation sovereignty, it's no longer about defending a decision taken in a council fire: This appeal is now about more money for lawyers — for six lawyers who are now seeking not $510 million as they initially were, but $255 million,” Rosenberg said. Both Bell and Garden River’s legal counsel contend that the money returned by the lawyers should be distributed as settlement proceeds in the near future. The $255 million held by the LMC has since been invested in GICs, and it's expected those will mature between May and August of this year. Those funds will then be able to be distributed to all 21 First Nations involved in the annuities claim. “For my nation and for the beneficiaries that we articulated and really pushed this forward for, I certainly believe that the funds should be distributed as soon as possible to the nations, because that money is rightfully now ours as per the court order — and there's no reason for RHTLF to hang on to it any longer,” Bell said. Garden River leadership and legal counsel are optimistic that the lawyers’ appeal could be heard in court by this fall. Rosenberg said it could take six months after that hearing for a judge to render their decision. He added that the appellants will try to reverse Myers’ decision by arguing that the law was misapplied. “We were instructed to push this appeal ahead as quickly as we possibly can,” said Rosenberg. “We recognize that everyone would like certainty. They'd like to bring this matter to an end.” The annuities claim stems from a clause in the 1850 Robinson Huron Treaty that provided for increases to annuities as wealth generated from the land grew over time. That never happened, as treaty annuity payments have remained frozen at $4 per person since 1875.