Métis office prepares to litigate 150 hunting, fishing cases

In the legal department of the Ontario Métis Aborginal Association (OMAA)'s head office on Albert Street in Sault Ste. Marie, there are a couple of filing cabinets containing 150 legal cases that OMAA is preparing to litigate in the wake of today's Powley decision.

Ever since 1998, when Judge Charles Vaillancourt ruled that Steve and Roddy Powley weren't guilty of hunting without a licence, because as Métis they had an aboriginal right to hunt for food, Ontario has continued to prosecute Métis hunters and anglers.

After the Supreme Court of Canada had the last word on the landmark case today, deciding once and for all to uphold Métis hunting rights, Fran Heath of OMAA's legal department tells SooToday.com that she has 150 hunting and fishing cases that will now be litigated.

OMAA represents about 20,000 Métis, non-status and off-reserve status aboriginal people across Ontario.

Today, OMAA welcomed the Supreme Court decision, saying that it clears up all uncertainty about the distinctive rights of the Métis.

OMAA issued the following press release:

**************************************************************** Landmark Métis hunting rights upheld by Supreme Court of Canada

SAULT STE. MARIE - SEPTEMBER 19, 2003

The Ontario Métis Aboriginal Association (OMAA) is pleased with the decision handed down by the Supreme Court of Canada.

For more than 30 years the OMAA has advocated for the equality rights of all Woodland Métis and other off reserve aboriginal people.

OMAA has held that there was a distinctive Métis community in Sault Ste. Marie and its environment, and they represent other historic Métis communities in the province of Ontario to display a distinctive collective identity.

The Supreme Court decision does not establish rigid parameters rather suggests that an "identifiable community with some degree of continuity and stability must be established through evidence of shared customs, traditions, and collective identity, as well as, demographic evidence. The trial judge's findings of an historic Métis community and of a contemporary Métis community in and around Sault Ste. Marie are supported by the record and must be upheld."

The decision upholds the position taken by OMAA.

OMAA has already instituted rules for hunting and have put together conservation measures that would sustain the moose population.

In fact, they are better measures than those implemented by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

The decision does not give rights to Métis people. It recognizes the right of the people to hunt and supports the notion in law "nemo dat quod non habit" which means you can't give what you don't have.

In an interesting side bar the court has implied that Métis people who have taken treaty have not lost their Métis rights.

Does this mean that half of the Indian population can claim Métis rights?

What is of paramount importance is that the courts have recognized that the Métis people are "A distinctive rights bearing people whose own integral practices are entitled to constitutional protection under Section 35."

This decision also supports the position that the Métis have a unique niche in the constitutional development of Canada and also in continuing constitutional debates.

Section 35 (1) of the Constitution Act 1982 makes clear that the Métis people are unique political actors in Canadian statecraft and we have special provisions unlike any other group in Canada, which differentiates us from immigrants and minorities.

The decision also supports the notion upheld by OMAA that the Métis people have done things in common.

The decision clears up any uncertainty with regard to the distinctive rights of the Métis people.

Had this not happened, and a narrow decision was handed down, anarchy would have prevailed.

The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples stated that the recognition of Métis rights must be kept as a national responsibility and that there is fiduciary under Section 91 (24) of the Constitution Act 1867.

In the final analysis, political legitimacy counts over judicial decisions.

We cannot subject ourselves to an inflexible federalism that has been reluctant to recognize the distinctive rights of the Métis people.

OMAA is a member of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, national organization that represents the interests of off reserve Indians and Métis peoples living in urban, rural, and remote areas throughout Canada.

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