Judge says $510M in fees for lawyers in treaty case was unreasonable

OTTAWA — In a scathing decision, an Ontario court judge has ruled a $510 million legal fee for lawyers who worked on a First Nations treaty rights case was unreasonable — and has ordered the fee scaled back to $23 million.

The Robinson Huron Treaty settlement, reached in 2023, sought to remedy unpaid treaty annuities for 21 First Nations.

It resulted in a $10 billion settlement, with five per cent of that amount going toward the lawyers who argued the case on behalf of the First Nations.

The First Nations said the fact that the $4-per-person annuity had not increased since 1874 breached the treaty, because resource extraction projects operating on their land had been generating profits that far exceeded what their members received.

Two First Nations in northern Ontario launched a court