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

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.

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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 application against the lawyers’ fees, saying they were unreasonable and that the lawyers were pressuring them not to pursue independent reviews of the payment.

Justice Fred Myers wrote in his decision that a lawyer’s professional retainer is not a “lottery ticket” and that the excess legal fees must go back to the First Nations.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2025.