Keewatin v. Minister of Natural Resources

Part 8. Analysis of Historical Evidence as it Relates to the Parties' Interests 127Q. But in any event, their understanding is that …regardless of where these individuals actually comefrom, [they] are being sent by the government in Ottawa, correct -- as a practical matter theyunderstand that?A. I think they understand that the Queen's councillors that the governor is alluding to are in Ottawa.[Emphasis added.][605] Although he maintained on December 3, 2010 that the Ojibway believed they weretreating with the Queen through her representatives, Von Gernet conceded that by the end of thenegotiations, the Ojibway understood that the "Council" to which Morris referred was at Ottawa,that the Queen's Councillors were in Ottawa and that they would be dealing "on anadministrative level with the Government, not in England but in Ottawa." [Von Gernet's crossexaminationof December 3, 2010.] He noted that Morris clarified any uncertainty that may haveexisted before the 1873 negotiations:A: … They would have understood that there was some kind of Queen's council in Ottawa whicheffectively was a government that was homologous to one of their own councils …the homologybetween the two, was only clarified by Morris in 1873. Prior to that I'm not certain how much theyreally understood. …[606] From that answer I concluded that Von Gernet agreed with Lovisek that after Morrisreferred to the Council that Governs a Great Dominion, the Ojibway understood the Queen'sgovernment they would be dealing with was the Government at Ottawa.2011 ONSC 4801 (CanLII)[607] Chartrand did not initially agree that the Ojibway were relying on the Queen'sGovernment at Ottawa.[608] Counsel for the Plaintiffs read the following passage from the discovery of Chartrand intothe trial record:And so the question as to the identity of the government … I agree that they know there is agovernment operative in Canada, for example, the government that is building the Dawson Road, asit is variously called, and they make an allusion, at least once, anyway, in the record of oralnegotiations taken by the shorthand reporter to, again, a request for " the government," statedgenerically as such, to provide wood to assist in building houses.(Plaintiffs' Read-ins, Ex. 33, Tab 6, May 8, 2009, p. 364, Question 1337)[609] On October 1, Dawson referring to early treaty negotiations, said, "We made offers asinstructed by the Government in good faith." Chartrand conceded in cross-examination (January21, 2010 at p 77) that it is very possible that at the early meetings, Dawson explained the natureof his authority to oversee construction and may have made reference to the Government ofCanada/Council at Ottawa.[610] Chartrand's report (Ex. 60) contains the following at pp. 127-9:Between 1868 and 1870, Simon Dawson was employed by the Dominion Government, as a civilengineer in the Department of Public Works, in charge of overseeing construction of the section ofthe immigrant travel route from Fort William to the Northwest Angle of the Lake of the Woods. TheOjibway interacted with him at council meetings in which he explained the nature and progress of theconstruction work, sought to obtain their consent for the work to progress and inquired as to theirterms for compensation in regards to the construction of the route.