‘A NOVEL CASE WITH A FIRM FOUNDATION’
WEALTHY BUSINESSMAN WANTS CHILD SUPPORT DETERMINED BY INDIGENOUS LAWS
Ken Hill may well be the wealthiest Indigenous businessman in Canada. The 59-year-old lives in a world of luxury and comfort, often escaping his home on a reserve in Brantford, Ont., by hopping on a private jet to Las Vegas, where he reportedly stays in suites that cost between $4,000 and $25,000 a night. He has even partied with Rod Stewart, Mike Tyson, the Trailer Park Boys and Snoop Dogg.
In 1992, he co-founded the world’s largest Indigenousowned corporation, Grand River Enterprises Ltd., which sells enormous volumes of cigarettes around the world. The company has recorded annual sales of more than $300 million, and, as a partner, he takes home at least $5 million a year.
Now, the wealthy Six Nations resident is fighting to hold on to more of his hardearned cash. He’s taking a family law dispute with the mother of his nine-year-old son to Ontario’s highest court to fight to have his child support payments determined by Indigenous laws.
Hill’s lawyers argue Haudenosaunee laws should trump Ontario family law when it comes to Indigenous families. The repercussions of this case, to be heard by the Ontario Court of Appeal on Sept. 11, could reverberate across the province, and perhaps more broadly, by diverting Indigenous women from the family court system into a system based on Indigenous traditions.
“This is a novel case with a firm foundation,” says Andrew Lokan, Hill’s lawyer. “American Indian tribes have been administering family law for decades. We are confident that, if permitted, Haudenosaunee results would be recognized and followed by Mr. Hill. The community has traditional dispute mechanisms that are robust.”
Brittany Beaver — Hill’s ex and the mother of their son — currently receives child support of $33,000 a month, but she has been fighting to determine Hill’s true income and wealth, according to court documents. The stay-at-home mom and student says she earns less than $10,000 a year and her claim for spousal support has not been resolved.
After two years of litigation, Hill provided some financial disclosure according to the filings, revealing a salary of $5.49 million. But his total yearly expenses are $7.4 million and his legal bills alone in 2017 were $1.2 million. According to court documents, Hill doesn’t pay income tax because of Indian Act exemptions.
Beaver says Hill told her he is a billionaire. Hill denies that, saying that no one, including himself, has “seemingly unlimited financial resources.” She alleges Hill “repeatedly threatened her that she will never know his true income or net worth because he doesn’t file income tax returns and has connections that will assist him in hiding his assets from her.” He denies saying this.
In financial disclosure, Hill also listed several Canadian properties, including a $1.135-million home in Kitchener, Ont. (held in trust for their son) where Beaver lives with the boy, her new boyfriend and their child. Hill’s car collection — which Beaver says includes a Lamborghini, three Porsches, at least two Ferraris and four Rolls-royces — was valued at $5.58 million, his 2010 Lazzara 76-foot yacht is worth $2.76 million and his 2013 Sea Ray Sundancer, $939,000.
Beaver’s affidavit states that Hill also either owns or has an interest in a private 10-seater plane, but Hill denies owning a jet or helicopter, saying his company leased a jet, which Hill used. Beaver also alleges Hill has an 18,000 sq. ft. Bahamas mansion, where her son stayed in December 2014 and December 2015. Hill also possesses “multimillion-dollar mansions” in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Miami, Beaver alleges. But none of these properties are mentioned in Hill’s financial disclosure. While Hill and Beaver were dating, he lavished her with expensive gifts, frequent travel and shopping sprees. In happier times, the couple stayed at the largest suite in a Bahamas resort, which cost $20,000 a night,
Hill met Beaver, then 22, in September 2008 while she was working with corporate promotions at GRE.
She claims they lived together for about one year and had a baby on Aug. 24, 2009. And that they continued their romantic sexual relationship — while living apart — until November 2013 when Beaver ended it during a tumultuous vacation in the Bahamas.
Beaver says while Hill gave gifts and trips freely and paid for their son’s private-school tuition of $25,000 a year, he rarely gave his child the most precious commodity of all: his time.
She alleges that despite her attempts to encourage Hill to foster a relationship with his son, the father admitted in 2016 he sees him only once every three to six months for a few hours. Hill also admitted he didn’t visit his son in the hospital when he was one-year-old and suffering from pneumonia, she says.
Hill maintains he’s not obligated to pay Beaver spousal support because he had a non-exclusive sexual relationship with her and never lived with her. It’s not a “relationship of permanence” so she’s not entitled to spousal support, he says.
Under Haudenosaunee law, if parties can‘t reach a consensus, “the final authority to determine the dispute rests with the Confederacy Council and Clan Mothers,” Hill’s lawyers say in court documents.
Haudenosaunee law requires that a father assume responsibility to provide for his child and these laws “emphasize responsibilities, not rights,” which means Beaver, as a capable woman, “would be responsible to be self-sufficient,” they say.
There’s no “rigid distinction between ‘child support’ and ‘spousal support’ — which are Canadian legal concepts and not part of Haudenosaunee culture. While Hill is required to support his son and Beaver (by providing her a place to live, for example), “these are not separate categories of responsibility,” Hill’s lawyerssay.
His lawyers also say Hill cannot know in advance what level of support for his son (or for Beaver, if any) would be deemed appropriate by the Clan Mothers or Confederacy Council or another body vested by them with the authority to determine this matter.
Hill asked the Confederacy Council to resolve this dispute in 2016, but it declined. In Hill’s latest pleadings, he says that the Council hasn’t determined this dispute because, in part, Beaver brought her case before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and the Council’s “stated position is that no Haudenosaunee person should compromise their sovereignty by appearing before courts of another jurisdiction.”
Beaver’s lawyers argue Hill’s appeal of the lower court decision rejecting his bid to be governed by Haudenosaunee laws should be dismissed in order to protect vulnerable native women and children.
THE COMMUNITY HAS TRADITIONAL DISPUTE MECHANISMS THAT ARE ROBUST.