Ontario First Nations continue legal struggle with Ontario to access $35 million from Casino Rama
Ontario First Nations battling OLG over $35 million
Ontario natives are locked into a $35-million dispute with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. that has been dragging on for two years.
JOHN RENNISON / HAMILTON SPECTATOR FILE PHOTO
Steve Williams, chair of the Ontario First Nations Limited Partnership, said the disputed money belongs to the native communities, not OLG, since it came from Casino Rama gaming revenue.
By: Richard Brennan Provincial Politics, Published on Mon Jul 01 2013
Ontario First Nations are locked into a multimillion-dollar dispute with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.
The native collective has laid claim to two pots of gambling proceeds from a former Casino Rama deal totalling $35 million, but neither the OLG nor the province is feeling generous.
The provincial gaming agency doesn't want to talk about the two-year-old dispute.
"Seeing that this matter will go before an arbitrator, it would be inappropriate to comment," OLG spokesperson Tony Bitonti, said in an email.
In a decision released in June, the Superior Court of Justice directed the three parties, including the province, to hash out the matter before an arbitrator, explained London lawyer Barry Cleaver, who is representing the Ontario First Nations Limited Partnership.
Up until 2008, Ontario First Nations communities shared in the revenue of the native-owned Casino Rama, but that agreement was changed. Now instead, 132 Ontario reserves share 1.7 per cent of all Ontario gaming revenues, which equals roughly $119 million annually.
Under the previous deal, the OLG maintained two reserve funds, a capital renewal reserve of up to $5 million and an operating reserve to a maximum of $30 million.
The First Nations group has argued the reserve funds made sense in 2000, when it first struck its deal with the province and the financial viability of Casino Rama was unknown. Now however, the group argued, there is no business reason to maintain the reserve funds because the casino has long proven to be profitable, with a substantial cash flow.
The Six Nations' Steve Williams, chair of the Ontario First Nations Limited Partnership, said that money belongs to the native communities, not OLG, since it came from Casino Rama gaming revenue.
"We were supposed to get it back but the province says, 'We need it for operations.' But we are saying, 'If you want to (have these reserves) then put your own money into it. You don't need the First Nations' money for that.' That's the part we have been trying to get them to understand," he told the Star.
Williams said his group has been back and forth with the OLG and the province since the First Nations Limited Partnership officially ended its old agreement on Casino Rama.
The Chippewas of Rama First Nation, which owns the land and building at Casino Rama, is now the sole recipient of a shared revenue agreement for the casino with the OLG, which owns the assets on the gaming floor.
Besides the money, Williams said there is also an outstanding dispute over the fact the Ontario First Nations Limited Partnership has been waiting to have one of their own sit on the OLG board of directors, as provided for in the 2008 agreement.
"They haven't picked anybody in five years, so we are fighting them on that one as well," said Williams, who is one of four people who have been recommended to sit on the board.