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Chiefs of Ontario Firmly Support Robinson Huron Treaty Chiefs Serving Notice of Annuity Claims on Ontario and Canada

Bev Warne was honored for her contributions to nursing during the SDSU powwow in 2023. (Photo Courtesy of Jim Warne)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 10, 2012

Toronto, ON — The Chiefs of Ontario firmly support the Chiefs from the Robinson-Huron Treaty territory who served Notice of Claim today on the Crown in right of Canada and the Crown in right of Ontario with regard to the longstanding failure of the Crown to raise annuities under the Robinson Huron Treaty of 1850.

On September 9, 1850, 162 years ago, the Robinson Huron Treaty was made. Under the Treaty the Anishinabek agreed to share their lands and resources with the newcomers – approximately 35, 700 square miles of territory. In return, the Crown agreed to pay annuities that were to be augmented from time to time. Treaty beneficiaries currently get $4.00 per year. There has been no increase since 1874. This despite the fact that the Treaty is explicit in that the annuities would increase if the resource revenue generated from the territory produced such an amount as to enable the increase without incurring a loss.
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Jodi Rave Spotted Bear

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear is the founder and director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, a 501-C-3 nonprofit organization with offices in Bismarck, N.D. and the Fort Berthold Reservation. Jodi spent 15 years reporting for the mainstream press. She's been awarded prestigious Nieman and John S. Knight journalism fellowships at Harvard and Stanford, respectively. She also an MIT Knight Science Journalism Project fellow. Her writing is featured in "The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity," published by Columbia University Press. Jodi currently serves as a Society of Professional Journalists at-large board member, an SPJ Foundation board member, and she chairs the SPJ Freedom of Information Committee. Jodi has won top journalism awards from mainstream and Native press organizations. She earned her journalism degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.