The Nishnawbe-Aski Nation is planning to take the Ontario government to court on the issue of past royalties that have been illegally collected from trappers for their furs since 1947.
“The Ministry of Natural Resources has no legal business collecting the royalties,” said Deputy Grand Chief Brian Davey.
“We’re in the process of putting together a court action to get back the royalties and any future royalties. We want to severe that policy and have those royalties flow back to the harvesters for resources to manage the (fur) industry in the north.” The royalties the Ontario government has been collecting is hidden in all prices for fur sold in the province.
Four per cent is collected from buyers who then take off from the price and give to the government. This policy was introduced when the province began trapping licensing system in ’47.
For the past 18 months, NAN has been involved in discussions with the Ontario government who are prepared to look at future royalties going back to the trappers through NAN. “But they said they refuse to pay any of the past royalties,” said Davey.
A resolution made at the NAN Harvesters’ Conference recommends that a class action suit be prepared on behalf of all trappers. NAN wants the court to recognize that the Ontario government collected the royalties illegally under Treaty #9 and has no right to regulate trappers or collect the royalties.
NAN lawyer Michael Sherry said the case has legal precedence that dates back to the Cheechoo vs. the Queen case in 1978. A district court ruled that the Ministry of Natural Resources has no legal right to impose a trapping licensing and line system on Native trappers under Treaty #9 that refers to the right to hunt and trap. But to this day, MNR continues to collect the royalties for the provincial government with a legal position that the case didn’t mention anything about “stamping.”
“Trappers must have their furs stamped before selling them,” said Sherry. “But to have a stamp, one has to have a trapping license and must pay royalties.”
