Community Harvest Day
CBC Radio coverage of Community Harvest
HERE AND NOW HR 2 (CBL-FM), TORONTO, 31 Oct 05, Reach: 95,000, Time: 17:34, Length: 00:01:36, Ref# 55AF1F-12
Anchor/Reporters: ROBERT FISHER, JOHN MCGRATH
MATT GALLOWAY (NEWS ANNOUNCER): Métis in this province now say the McGuinty government is verging on contempt of the Supreme Court by charging some of their members for illegal hunting. The court gave Métis the right to hunt without a license, the same rights Natives currently have, but now 14 Métis have been charged with breaking the hunting and fishing laws of Ontario. John McGrath reports.
JOHN MCGRATH/ REPORTER: The Supreme Court gave the Métis hunting rights in a decision involving Steven Rod Powelly from Sault Saint Marie. It said two years ago that Métis have some of the same traditional hunting and fishing rights as Natives, so the normal rules don't apply to them. David Ramsay is both the Minister of Natural Resources and the Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs. He says the Supreme Court set clear limits to the Métis rights.
DAVID RAMSAY/ MINISTER OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS: There has to be an historical record of habitation or a hunt in any region of the province for there to be those rights.
MCGRATH: The President of the Métis Nation of Ontario says his association had an agreement with Ramsay on how the Powelly decision was going to be enforced. Then, said Tony Belcourt, negotiators added conditions after the fact, like saying the rights only existed north of Sudbury, and now 14 Métis have been charged with illegal hunting and fishing.
TONY BELCOURT/ PRESIDENT OF THE MÉTIS NATION OF ONTARIO: These charges against our people, I think, are even turning to contempt of the Supreme Court of Canada's decision.
MCGRATH: Belcourt says he has written to Ramsay complaining about the change in government policy and he says unless something is done by the end of this week the Métis Nation of Ontario will probably fight it in court. John McGrath CBC News Toronto.
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