Powley Case
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Last Updated Fri, 19 Sep 2003 18:20:06
From the CBC website – link: http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/09/19/metisrule030919
Ont. Métis community given right to hunt
By SUE BAILEY
OTTAWA - Canada's top court has ruled that an Ontario Métis community has the aboriginal right to hunt for food, a decision seen as a first step toward granting full hunting rights to the community.
The Supreme Court of Canada's landmark decision was specific to the Métis in Sault Ste. Marie.
The 9-0 ruling said that resident Steve Powley and his son Roddy have the same hunting rights as a full-status Indian. The Powleys had been charged under a provincial law with hunting moose without a license.
Status Indians are permitted to hunt for food without provincial licenses and out of season.
Three lower courts had previously ruled that the Powleys had an aboriginal right to hunt.
The Ontario government persuaded the Supreme Court to make a final decision.
The Supreme Court's ruling was its first opportunity to define Métis rights.
The court went further to say that any Métis who can prove a connection to a stable continuous community can also invoke the aboriginal right to hunt.
The rights of around 300,000 Métis people in Canada, who have mixed aboriginal and non-aboriginal ancestry, have never been defined under the 1982 Constitution.
Although the judgment was specific to the Métis community around Sault Ste. Marie, it could be used as a precedent for future cases.
Federal and provincial government lawyers had argued against allowing Métis hunting rights.
They told the top court in March that Métis people did not exist before European contact and should not be granted aboriginal privileges.
"The highest court of this land has finally done what Parliament and the provincial governments have refused, to deliver justice to the Métis people," said Audrey Poitras, acting president of the Métis National Council.
"To all the Métis people watching I want to say two words: we won, we won," she said.
Jean Teillet, the Powleys' lawyer, said while the decision doesn't define the scope of those rights for Métis in Canada, it's a huge step forward.
"The decision is broad enough to point the way. It's like a neon flag out there for the government to say, 'Hey start working on this.'"
"I'm glad. I'm glad for my children and for the rest of the Métis in Canada," said Steve Powley.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court dismissed the final appeal of a Manitoba Métis convicted of hunting deer out of season.
Ernie Blais claimed he had a right to hunt for food under the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement, a constitutional document that gave the right to "Indians."
The court ruled that the historical context of the document suggested that the term "Indians" did not include the Métis.
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