, commonly called the Powley ruling, is a
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...
case defining
Métis
The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...
Aboriginal rights under
section 35(1) of the ''
Constitution Act, 1982
The ''Constitution Act, 1982'' (french: link=no, Loi constitutionnelle de 1982) is a part of the Constitution of Canada.Formally enacted as Schedule B of the ''Canada Act 1982'', enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Section 60 of t ...
''.
Background
A
Sault Ste. Marie father and son, Steve and Roddy Powley, were charged in 1993 with possession of a moose that they had shot
out of season and
without a licence. The pair pleaded not guilty on the grounds that as Métis, they had an Aboriginal right to hunt that was not subject to Ontario game laws.
Procedural history
The
Ontario Court of Justice
The Ontario Court of Justice is the provincial court of record for the Canadian province of Ontario. The court sits at more than 200 locations across the province and oversees matters relating to family law, criminal law, and provincial offences. ...
agreed and dismissed the charges. The Ontario
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
appealed that decision to the
Ontario Superior Court of Justice
The Superior Court of Justice (French: ''Cour supérieure de justice'') is a superior court in Ontario. The Court sits in 52 locations across the province, including 17 Family Court locations, and consists of over 300 federally appointed judges.
...
, which upheld the acquittals and denied the appeal.
The Ontario
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
appealed again, to the
Ontario Court of Appeal
The Court of Appeal for Ontario (frequently referred to as the Ontario Court of Appeal or ONCA) is the appellate court for the province of Ontario, Canada. The seat of the court is Osgoode Hall in downtown Toronto, also the seat of the Law Societ ...
, which also upheld the acquittals and denied the appeal. Finally, Ontario appealed the decision to the
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...
, where a unanimous court upheld the decisions of the lower courts and defined a ten-step test for Métis rights, based on modified tests from the previous Indian
Aboriginal rights decisions in ''
R. v. Sparrow'' and ''
R. v. Van der Peet''.
Aftermath
Métis people seeking to exercise Aboriginal rights of hunting and fishing must show that the practice in question relates to the practice of a rights-bearing Métis community prior to European political and legal control and that they are members of the corresponding modern Métis community by both self-identification and acceptance within the community.
Thus, if a Métis group of people established a rights-bearing community distinct from any Indian or Inuit
Aboriginal groups from which it had descended, practices that the community exercised prior to European control may be
Section 35(1) rights.
See also
*
The Canadian Crown and First Nations, Inuit and Métis
The association between the Canadian Crown and Indigenous peoples in Canada stretches back to the first decisions between North American Indigenous peoples and European colonialists and, over centuries of interface, treaties were established c ...
*
Canadian Aboriginal case law
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
*
Numbered Treaties
The Numbered Treaties (or Post-Confederation Treaties) are a series of eleven treaties signed between the First Nations, one of three groups of Indigenous peoples in Canada, and the reigning monarch of Canada (Victoria, Edward VII or George V) ...
*
Indian Act
The ''Indian Act'' (, long name ''An Act to amend and consolidate the laws respecting Indians'') is a Canadian act of Parliament that concerns registered Indians, their bands, and the system of Indian reserves. First passed in 1876 and still ...
*
Section Thirty-five of the Constitution Act, 1982
Section 35 of the ''Constitution Act, 1982'' provides constitutional protection to the indigenous and treaty rights of indigenous peoples in Canada. The section, while within the Constitution of Canada, falls outside the ''Canadian Charter of Rig ...
*
Indian Health Transfer Policy (Canada)
The Canadian Indian Health Transfer Policy provides a framework for the assumption of control of health services by Indigenous peoples in Canada and set forth a developmental approach to transfer centred on the concept of self-determination in hea ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Powley Ruling
Indigenous rights in Canada
Canadian Aboriginal case law
Métis in Canada
2003 in Canadian case law
Métis in Ontario