Return of the Treaty: Part 2 (ep 293)

MEDIA INDIGENA : Indigenous current affairs

THIS WEEK: Return to Restoule—the back half of our conversation about the Restoule case, the litigation some say has advanced a re-consideration and re-interpretation of the 1850 Robinson treaties.

In part one (ep. 291), we discussed the principle behind the treaties' unique annuity clause: an annual payment by the Crown to the Anishnabek Nation that would only rise as resource revenues did. An economic treaty right that bakes in a fair share of an expanding pie made with entirely Indigenous ingredients. A right the Crown’s refused to respect for decades, loss after loss in court has now brought them to the negotiating table, a possibly telling indication of what they think the Supreme Court of Canada will do with their request to appeal.

And as the Court weighs that request, the Anishinabek side weighs their options for what the principle of a fair share might look like in practice, including how to remedy its breach. Options host/producer Rick Harp explores with the help of our returning guests Christina Gray and Hayden King, two of the driving forces behind the Yellowhead Institute report, “Treaty Interpretation in the Age of Restoule,” co-produced with JFK Law.

// CREDITS: Our intro/extro theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.