Tues., March 4, 2020 (Ottawa, ON) – At a meeting of Chiefs from the Robinson Huron Treaty territory, the Robinson Huron Waawiindaamaagewin (RHW) issued letters of objection to the governments of Ontario and Canada regarding treaty territory infringement.

“Canada and Ontario know that our treaty-protected rights have been, and continue to be eroded by colonial settler governments stepping outside of the spirit and intent of our nation-to-nation, treaty relationship without a mandate,” said Chief Dean Sayers, spokesperson for the RHW. “The honour of the Crown and our sacred agreements must be upheld.”

There are a number of groups that are or have been in negotiations with Ontario and Canada that are infringing on RHT territory. There has been no consent/permission sought from RHT rights holders.

“We require that all colonial settler governments respect our unextinguished jurisdictions and further require that all colonial settler governments obtain our consent/permission. As the underlying title holders to our lands, our consent/permission has not been sought through any of these processes,” said Chief Sayers. “We assert our sovereignty and we cannot have Canada or Ontario negotiating with other groups that infringe on our rights in our territory.”

The RHW issued a resolution today to the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario on this issue. The full text of this resolution is attached to this press release.

In a separate process, following traditional protocols, RHW is approaching all neighbouring First Nations and treaty organizations to discuss any overlapping treaty boundary issues and access to shared harvesting territories. The RHW does not recognize Métis in the RH treaty territory as having any land rights.