Henvey Inlet woman won't have to disclose treaty settlement amount in child support negotiations

Kate Rutherford · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 18, 2025 7:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago

Payments from the Robinson Huron Treaty (RHT) litigation colony person been guarded fiercely by First Nations, but a caller question successful household tribunal successful Sudbury has challenged that confidentiality.

In the past, courts person ruled that the funds distributed to individuals is not income, but compensation and not to beryllium thought of arsenic a windfall.

However, the lawyer for a Sudbury antheral precocious took a antithetic avenue, asking a tribunal to unit the man's ex-partner to uncover the magnitude she received arsenic portion of a pact settlement, arguing it would beryllium applicable successful kid enactment negotiations.

Dennis Legault shares custody of 2 children with Mandy Herbert, who is simply a subordinate of Henvey Inlet First Nation.

She received a one-time idiosyncratic outgo successful 2024 from her First Nation, 1 of the 21 Anishinabek communities that were portion of the colony of a suit against the national and provincial governments for failing to honour a committedness to stock the wealthiness reaped from the territory, arsenic acceptable out in the 1850 Robinson Huron Treaty.

Herbert resisted the question successful court, saying the magnitude of wealth should not beryllium made nationalist nor was it important successful settling retroactive kid support.

"It would person been antithetic had I won an existent lottery," she said. "I could spot wherever that accrued the magnitude of money, that mightiness beryllium taken into account, but that's not what this was. It was a colony for compensation and harm."

Herbert adds she's been advised by the Robinson Huron Treaty ineligible squad that she is not permitted to stock the magnitude she received publicly.

She said she adjacent had to motion an online non-disclosure statement with Henvey Inlet First Nation erstwhile registering for her payment

Herbert did supply each the different fiscal accusation that Legault requested.

Ultimately, Justice Susan Stothart ruled successful Herbert's favour, agreeing she should not person to disclose the amount. 

The justice wrote successful her decision, that connected balance, the annuities colony did not summation Herbert's fiscal means.

"The RHT funds were a one-time outgo to code humanities wrongs committed against the respondent's First Nation," wrote Stothart. "The outgo was non-recurring and volition person nary interaction connected the respondent's aboriginal means."

As well, the justice noted that Herbert had provided capable different idiosyncratic inheritance accusation to supply a clear picture of her finances.

And she wrote that it besides seemed wide that astir of Herbert's treaty funds had been utilized to wage for ineligible expenses and the wealth yet did not lend to Herbert's quality to enactment the children.

Herbert's lawyer, Hayley Cairns, a spouse astatine Niman Mamo, said the justice recovered that determination were valid privateness interests successful this case, but they don't ever override an work to marque due disclosure.

Herbert disappointed with decision

That is simply a constituent that rankles Herbert, who had been hoping for a ruling that would person enactment a halt to aboriginal cases wherever families who received pact payments whitethorn beryllium called connected to disclose them, not conscionable her idiosyncratic case.

"The justice near the door, successful my opinion, wide unfastened for aboriginal challenges. For myself, oregon different Indigenous litigants, alternatively than to firmly conscionable unopen it down due to the fact that these funds are protected nether pact rights," she said.

"The judge's attack was much astir privateness interests alternatively than.constitutional protections. [She] failed to nexus those intelligibly to law protections we person nether Section 35. That successful and of itself minimizes the corporate rights of each Indigenous people."