Williams Treaties (1923-1950)
In 1916, a Commission of inquiry jointly created by Ontario and Canada proposed that a new treaty be negotiated in the region between Georgian Bay, the Ottawa River, Lake Simcoe and the lands west of the Bay of Quinte.
The 1923 Williams Treaties, taking its name for the head of the Royal Commission, ceded all lands in the region to the Crown for a fixed one time cash payment.
When Confederation was declared in 1867, it was widely held that lands in the Province of Ontario were all legally surrendered to the Crown through treaties. By the 1910s, however, concerns were being raised that some of the treaties were problematic and that not all the lands of Central Ontario were covered by a treaty.