THUNDER BAY – Gull Bay First Nation (Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek) Chief Wilfred King has a straightforward answer when asked what he hopes will come out of proceedings in Courtroom 206 this week.
"We're hoping that Justice Hennessy will agree with our position," King said Tuesday from Toronto as legal arguments were presented in Thunder Bay Courthouse.
Gull Bay and other First Nations in the Robinson-Superior Treaty are asking Superior Court Justice Patricia Hennessy to decide how much they're owed in a historic treaty annuity case.
At the heart of the case was a promise by the Crown in the 1850 treaty to share the wealth of the land with First Nations north of Lake Superior via annual payments.
The annuity was increased once, in 1875, and has remained at $4 per person since then.
The Robinson-Superior First Nations rejected a settlement offer in 2023, taking the issue to court where they argued the federal and provincial governments owed a combined amount of $126 billion.
In a unanimous decision last summer, the Supreme Court of Canada said the $4 annuity was an "egregious" underpayment and gave Canada, Ontario and the First Nations six months to reach a settlement for well over a century of underpayment.
However, the court refused to rule on a settlement amount, sending all parties back to the bargaining table.
The First Nations rejected a $3.6-billion compensation offer in late January and said they would be challenging it in court.
King told Newswatch at the time that negotiations and their outcome were "very disappointing."
Crown negotiators "did not come to the table with open hearts and did not act in a just and honourable way," he said.
Arguments are set to conclude next week.
"It's a long time coming – 170 years in the making," said King. "And so we're hoping Justice Hennessy will come to decide in favour of our position."