‘Done being patient’: Treaty 4 First Nations suing Ottawa over $5 annuity payments

 By Jeremy Simes THE CANADIAN PRESS REGINA- Chief Lynn Acoose says she’s taking a step elders and past Indigenous leaders in her community have long been reluctant to. The chief of Zagime Anishinabek, home to several First Nations in southeastern Saskatchewan, has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against the federal government. The suit alleges Ottawa has not kept its end of the bargain over annuity payments after signing Treaty 4 nearly 150 years ago. Chief Derek Nepinak of Minegoziibe Anishinabe in west-central Manitoba is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, filed this month in Federal Court. Chief Murray Clearsky of Waywayseecappo First Nation filed in January a similar proposed class-action against Ottawa in Manitoba Court of King’s Bench. “We are doing something our elders have counselled us against,” Acoose said in…

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