b'ROBINSON HURON TREATYRevenue Sharing BY CHRISTINE MISKONOODINKWE SMITHA look at the Robinson Huron Treaty for sustainable wealth creationThe Treaty During this period of unrest, theWealth Sharing According to the book Nation to Nation:Crown sent a former fur trader andUnderstanding the implementation of A Resource on Treaties in Ontario,representative of the colonial legisla- treaties as being original revenue sharing produced by the Anishinabek Nation,ture, William Benjamin Robinson, toagreements and creating sustainable Indian treaties in Canada are constitu- negotiate a deal. The RHT was made onwealth can be difficult. A 2013 study by tionally recognized agreements betweenSeptember 9, 1850. Under the Treatythe Fraser Institute explained that there the Crown and Aboriginal peoples. the Anishinabek agreed to share theirwas potentially $650 billion worth of lands and resources with the newcomers.resource projects that could be developed The Robinson Huron Treaty (RHT)A November 2017 Vice article titledin Canada. According to a 2015 Aborig-territory covers about 43,253 squareCanada is being sued by Indigenousinal Canada and the Natural Resource kilometres of the northern shores of Lakepeople for 150 years of back rent statesEconomy Series paper published by Huron. Within the treaty boundaries arethat the Robinson Huron deal includedMacDonald-Laurier Institute, until the cities of Sudbury, North Bay and Saulta promise by the Crown to protect thevery recently, Canadas large and vital Ste. Marie. In the 1840s the area becameFirst Nations hunting and fishing rights,resource sector was not well connected popular to surveyors due to massiveand to pay members of the communitiesto Aboriginal communities across the mineral deposits and timber. Tensionsa sum of $2.country. Previous developments occurred arose between surveyors and the Anishi- In 1874, the government agreed withon traditional Indigenous territories, but nabek who occupied the land becausethe officials of the RHT area to raisewithout a substantial return, which occa-surveyors purchased licences to mine thetheir payment to $4. There has been nosionally led to unrest and dissatisfaction.region and disregarded the fact that theincrease since 1874, ignoring the exten- The paper, written by Ken S. Coates, land remained the sovereign territory ofsive resource development that has takencontinues, if Canada is to capitalize the Anishinabek people who lived there.place within the treaty region. fully on the opportunities for all16l ISSUE 1 2019C hIEfS ofo ntarIoA dvocAte magazInE'