Powley Case
News - Articles I I I
(CBCS-FM), Sudbury
24 Apr 2001, 12:02PM
Anchor/Reporters: MARTIN CHAPMAN
CHAPMAN : The President of the Métis Nation of Ontario says the province is ignoring court rulings concerning its member’s constitutional right to hunt. Tony Belcourt was speaking at a morning press conference in Sault Ste Marie. Belcourt says the provincial government wants to consult with a list of organizations in order to draw up new hunting regulations. The new rules would include Métis and First Nations hunting rights. But Belcourt says, before the province talks to anyone, it first has to uphold court rulings that say provincial officials must talk to Aboriginal People first.
BELCOURT : The Ontario Court of Appeal has handed us a very powerful tool to be able to make sure that the government understands, this time, in ways that it has refused to understand in the past. Métis have rights, you have to recognize and respect them and you have to recognize and respect the Métis People, and they, by no means, have shown that they got that message yet.
CHAPMAN : Belcourt says he's written to the province to demand consultation meetings with the government. He says Métis People want to be able to hunt and fish for food without the concern they'll be charged under the existing Wildlife Act.
|
