133 First Nations. Treaty 3, Treaty 9, Robinson-Huron, Robinson-Superior, Williams Treaties, and more. Home to the largest Indigenous population in Canada by absolute numbers â and some of the most egregious failures in the country.
Ontario is covered by dozens of treaties â and violates nearly all of them structurally. The Robinson-Huron Treaty (1850) promised annuity payments that were raised once in 1875 and then frozen at $4/person/year for 148 years until a 2024 Supreme Court ruling found Ontario liable for billions in unpaid adjustments. Ontario fought this case for decades rather than honour its treaty obligation. The Williams Treaties remain disputed. Treaty 3 provisions are routinely ignored regarding resource extraction on traditional territories. The Ford government has used MZOs to bypass Indigenous consultation on development projects â the functional opposite of treaty honour.
The Caledonia/Six Nations land dispute (ongoing since 2006) is emblematic: Six Nations holds the largest land claim in Ontario, covering much of southern Ontario. The province has never resolved it. The 1492 Land Back Lane occupation (2020) was met with police raids. Meanwhile, the Ford government opened Greenbelt land for development without meaningful Indigenous consultation. Ontario uses MZOs to override environmental assessments and consultation requirements â directly undermining the duty to consult enshrined in Supreme Court rulings. Resource extraction (Ring of Fire chromite deposits in northern Ontario) proceeds with inadequate First Nations consent.
Grassy Narrows â a community poisoned by mercury contamination in the 1960s â waited decades for a treatment centre. The provincial and federal governments blamed each other while people suffered neurological damage. Neskantaga First Nation was under a boil-water advisory for 28 years (1995â2023). Attawapiskat declared states of emergency repeatedly due to housing and suicide crises. Healthcare access in northern Ontario First Nations communities requires air travel. Education funding on reserves is systematically lower than in provincial schools. Ontario's contribution to on-reserve services is minimal â the province hides behind federal jurisdiction while controlling the land and resources around reserves.
The lowest dimension score. Indigenous peoples represent ~3% of Ontario's population but ~13% of the provincial prison population. The Thunder Bay Police Service was found by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director to have engaged in systemic racism in investigating deaths of Indigenous people. Seven Indigenous students died in Thunder Bay while attending high school away from their communities. Inquests documented negligence. The Ipperwash Crisis (1995) saw Dudley George shot and killed by the OPP on unceded territory. The Broken Trust report documented police failures in cases involving Indigenous victims. Ontario has not implemented an Indigenous-specific policing strategy.
Indigenous poverty rates in Ontario are more than double the provincial average. Resource extraction generates billions in wealth from northern Ontario â territory covered by Treaty 9 â with minimal revenue sharing with First Nations. The Ring of Fire (estimated $60B+ in mineral wealth) has been debated for over a decade without resolving First Nations consent and benefit-sharing. Urban Indigenous populations in Toronto, Ottawa, and Thunder Bay face housing insecurity, employment discrimination, and inadequate culturally appropriate services.
Ontario scores 28.8 â an F. The province with 40% of Canada's GDP and 133 First Nations within its borders has treated Indigenous peoples as obstacles to development rather than treaty partners. The Ford government's use of MZOs to bypass consultation, the decades-long fight against Robinson-Huron annuity payments, and the ongoing crises in communities like Grassy Narrows and Attawapiskat reveal a province that views reconciliation as a federal problem while extracting provincial wealth from Indigenous lands. Ontario's Indigenous failure is not passive neglect. It is active, structural, and ongoing.
"They signed treaties with us. Then they forgot the treaties. Then they forgot they forgot."