Officials with the Saugeen Ojibway Nation are disappointed in the latest decision by the Supreme Court of Canada considering their 1854 treaty claim. “It’s disappointing that the Crown isn’t going to hear from us about the importance of the Crown keeping its treaty promises, about why it is a relationship that should be held to the high standard of a fiduciary obligation, but we will push forward to hold the Crown accountable for their wrongs,” said Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation Chief Greg Nadjiwon. The Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON) launched a court claim in 1994, seeking $90 billion in compensation and punitive damages as well as the return of numerous Crown lands for a broken treaty promise made in 1854.
SON says that the Crown broke treaty promises to protect the Bruce Peninsula from settlement and save the land for them in 1836 and again in 1854. In 2019 and 2021, Ontario’s Superior Court agreed, saying the Crown did break its promise to protect the land and that a Crown agent breached the Crown’s honour when he told SON the Crown would take the land without SON’s consent, unless they signed the 1854 treaty. The Court did not, however, find that the Crown broke its “fiduciary duty” to keep its promise.
Map of Saugeen Ojibway Nation Treaty 72 land claim. (Source: Saugeen Ojibway Nation) SON says a “fiduciary duty” is a special obligation in relationships where one party relies on the other to act in their best interests. An appeal of the “.
