The Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) is saddened by the news of Chief Justice Roy McMurtry’s passing on Monday March 18, 2024.
A recipient of the Order of Ontario and an officer of the Order of Canada, Chief Justice McMurtry is remembered for his significant contributions to the justice system, as the Attorney General of Ontario and subsequently as the Chief Justice of Ontario.
A respected lawyer and jurist, Canadians will know Chief Justice McMurtry for the pivotal role he played in negotiating the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the partition of Canada’s Constitution from the United Kingdom in 1982.
McMurtry will be remembered by the MNO—and the entire Métis Nation—for his role in affirming Métis rights, being among the panel of Ontario Court of Appeal (ONCA) judges who unanimously affirmed that the Sault Ste. Marie Métis Community and its members have an existing Métis right to harvest under Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, in R v. Powley.
In its unanimous decision in favour of the Powleys, ONCA ruled that;
“The constitution formally recognizes the existence of distinct ‘Métis peoples’, who, like the Indian and Inuit, are a discrete and equal subset of the larger class of ‘aboriginal peoples of Canada.’ It seems to me that, in keeping with the interpretive principles to which I have already referred, we must fully respect the separate identity of the Métis peoples and generously interpret the recognition of their constitutional rights.”
“[T]he respondents have demonstrated that they have a significant link with the historic Métis community of Sault Ste. Marie, that they are members of that community, and that they are thereby entitled to exercise an aboriginal right to hunt for food within the hunting territory of that community.”
Chief Justice McMurtry’s dedication to justice and his commitment to upholding the rights of Indigenous peoples will be greatly missed.