Acadians may get special hunting rights - Posted on Saturday, July 17  from The Halifax Daily News By Brian Flinn

The federal government is searching for Métis in Nova Scotia, and it might find thousands of them in the Acadian community. The federal government is searching for Métis in southwestern Nova Scotia, and it might find thousands of them. Nova Scotia´s Acadian community appears to fit neatly within Ottawa´s definition of Métis, and could qualify for special hunting rights protected under the Constitution. Former Tory cabinet minister Gerry Doucet said most Acadians are both French and Mi´kmaq. When he did his family tree as research for his new book, Acadian Footprints: The Roots & Recollections of Gerald Doucet, he found Mi´kmaq ancestors in one branch. My surprise is not that I found Mi´kmaq blood, but that I didn´t find more, Doucet said yesterday. The federal government is commissioning studies on Métis across Canada following a Supreme Court decision last fall, which gave hunting rights to a community in Ontario. The Justice Department tells prospective researchers that the term Métis does not simply apply to people of mixed native and European ancestry, but to a distinctive group of people of mixed-ancestry heritage who developed their own customs, practices or traditions, and a recognizable group identity separate from their Indian or Inuit and European forebearers. Sounds like Acadians Doucet said that sounds like Acadians. That definition, for starters, does not exclude Acadians, the former Richmond MLA said. Asked if Acadians should have special rights, Doucet said: I don´t want to go there. Yvon Samson, chairman of the Conseil Scolaire Acadien Provincial, said some Acadians have established Mi´kmaq ancestry, but it´s a minority. He said the Lejeune, Young and Muise families are certainly part native. There are some. They do exist, whether you call them Métis or anything else, he said. Samson said the question of rights would be an interesting one for the courts. Doucet said ties between the province´s French and Mi´kmaq communities go back 400 years, and inter-marriage was common from the start. His own native ancestors married into his family a century ago. I acknowledge it and celebrate it, he said. Mi´kmaq historian Dan Paul said he believes most, if not all Acadians are part Mi´kmaq. They might count as Métis, but he doesn´t think they should qualify for special rights. Paul said Nova Scotia children of mixed ancestry were accepted by either the Acadian or Mi´kmaq communities, unlike Manitoba's Métis. Most Canadians who have some First Nations ancestry are not disadvantaged, he said, pointing out that former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was part Cree. Marginalized. Paul argues special hunting rights should be reserved for native communities, which were marginalized. If you are looking at all the people who have some First Nations blood in them here in Canada, it could be maybe two to five million people, he said. Are 25 million Canadians going to sit back and allow five million Canadians to enjoy special rights?

Ontario's Métis reach deal with Ontario Government - From the CBC - Deal lets Ontario Métis hunt, fish freely Last Updated Thu, 08 Jul 2004 

After months of talks, Ontario's Métis reached a deal with  the provincial government Wednesday that will allow them to hunt and fish more freely.   From now on, the Ministry of Natural Resources will recognize the use of Métis licences known as "harvester certificates," which will prevent hunters from being charged or  having their game or weapons confiscated during a hunt. They will not be able to sell the game they catch, however. Similar rules will apply to Métis who fish for their own use, even out of season. The Métis Nation of Ontario will issue no more than 1,250 of the certificates over  the course of the two-year interim project, to provincial residents of mixed native  and European descent. Tony Belcourt, president of the Métis Nation of Ontario, said the deal was reached  after an 11th-hour phone call from provincial Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay. The Métis group had been ready to announce a plan to defy provincial authorities and  launch a round of unapproved hunting and fishing this fall, after months of talks  bogged down. Belcourt said the agreement will put an end to the harassment Métis  people have experienced for years. "Think what we are going to be able to do now that we have a government that respects  us as a people," he said to a crowd of cheering supporters meeting in Thunder Bay. Jason Madden, a member of the Métis negotiating team, said the move sets a precedent  other provinces should follow. "I think other governments should take notice of one government sticking its  neck out and saying, 'Yeah, we'll do it this way. We don't want a recipe for  confrontation.'" The Manitoba Métis Federation is looking for a similar deal to let it issue  harvester cards. Wednesday's deal in Ontario follows a Supreme Court decision last fall that gave  nearly 1,000 Métis in the Sault Ste. Marie the right to hunt or fish for food  without licences and regardless of season.  For more information try The Métis Nation of Ontario

A Powley Conference was held in Toronto on Nov. 20/21 2003. Mary White attended. To see a copy of her notes click here.

We received an email from the National Conference on Aboriginal Forestry. They would like our membership to know about their conference called 'Creating a New Climate for Aboriginal Forestry' that is being held in Thunder Bay on May 11-13, 2004. For more information click here.

Fake status cards sold to Métis - From the CBC Web Posted Dec 19 2003

Illegal status cards are circulating in the Maritimes that claim to give Métis the same rights as natives to fish or hunt.  "This last fellow that called me paid $80 for his and I said, 'well you've gotten taken for the simple fact it's not a status card'," says Betty Ann Lavellee, president of the Aboriginal People's Council in New Brunswick.  "He actually believed this card he had was a status card. I pulled out my status card and handed it to him and I said, 'here's the actual status card, compare it'."  Alex MacDonald, a band councillor for the Indian Brook First Nation near Halifax, says the people who sell these Métis cards are simply cheating others.  "There are so many of these cards being sold, I see them all the time. I see why they want to make them look like status cards so they can try to get away with tax exemptions," says MacDonald.  Ron Surette, the speaker for the Confederacy of Nova Scotia Métis, has been fighting to get his members recognized as Métis for several years. He says he makes it clear when anyone in his organization sells a Métis card that it's for identification only.  "Probably some day we'll have some rights. Right now we have no rights at all," says Surette.  He is warning anybody buying a card that offers rights to fish, hunt or be exempt from taxes to be wary. Until they are recognized, Surette says, the Métis cards are worthless.

Métis lists swell in Nova Scotia - Web Posted Dec 18, 2003

The list of people claiming to be Métis in the Maritimes is growing as a result of a Supreme Court decision.  The ruling, known as the Powley case, recognized a group in Ontario as Métis and gave its members the same hunting and fishing rights as native people.  Now people claiming to be Métis in the Maritimes want the same benefits.  Carole Lebelle roi Solkum, the membership clerk for the New Brunswick Aboriginal People's Council in Fredericton, says there has been a rise in claims since the Powley case.  "Most of the meetings we've held we've had Métis come out and identify themselves," she says.  It's unclear how many people are claiming Métis status. Different groups are filling out forms, and estimates are in the thousands. Bob Frelick calls himself Métis, claiming he's part native and part European. He says the growing number of people with similar claims does have a lot to do with money.  "When you talk about a financial gain then everybody wants to get into the action," he says.  Barbara Leblanc disputes that. She's a Métis from the Annapolis Valley who says money has nothing to do with her claim.  "Is it the money we're after? I can't say it is personally. Education, yes definitely, and like you said that pie is going to get smaller for [First Nations]," she says.  Defining who is Métis  Historians and legal experts say that people with mixed European and native blood are not Métis. They also agree that claimants must belong to a recognized Métis community, which they say doesn't exist in Eastern Canada. The Métis homeland stops at Ontario, according to the Métis National Council.  Métis National Council - Who are the Métis? Many First Nations groups are not keen on the Métis claims either.  Tony Cunningham, who calls himself a Métis from Nova Scotia, disagrees but says he understands the natives' position.  "I can answer this way: If you had a gold mine you wouldn't me to be panning for gold on the weekends in your gold mine," he says.  Jack Hatfield, a Nova Scotian who claims to be Métis, is going to court in January for shooting a deer out of season.  Métis groups in Eastern Canada are hoping the case will prove he had the aboriginal right to kill and keep the animal, and whether or not other Métis deserve the same rights as Métis in Western Canada. The 1996 census identified about 210,000 Métis, accounting for more than 25 per cent of Canada's aboriginal population.   The Métis National Council believes there are closer to 500,000 Métis in Canada.

The Powley decision regarding the Métis right to hunt and fish for food was heard by the Supreme Court of Canada. The impact of this decision should be felt by all Métis people across Canada. For more information on the ruling click here.

June 8, 2001 - A Hunting and  Fishing Policy was established and accepted at the last Executive Meeting and has since been forwarded on to both Provincial and Federal Governments.  This is the first step in taking control of our Aboriginal Right to harvest as guaranteed in Section 25 of the Constitution of Canada. The Nova Scotia Métis Harvesting Policy can be seen and  downloaded here in MS Word format. The companion guidelines are also available.

Top court will hear landmark case on hunting, fishing rights of Métis - By Sue Bailey

The man who sparked a landmark case on Métis hunting rights, now headed for Canada's top court, is fretting about his food stocks.  ''I'm going to get my meat for the winter,'' Steve Powley, a Métis from Sault Ste. Marie in northern Ontario, vowed Thursday. ''I have no choice. I'm on a fixed income and I rely on it.''  Powley and his son, Roddy, successfully argued in 1998 that as Métis people (those of mixed aboriginal and European descent) they have a constitutional right to hunt for food unlicensed and outside provincial hunting seasons.  The Ontario Court of Appeal upheld that ruling last February, staying the judgment for one year so the province could change its rules in consultation with the Métis.  But on Thursday, the Ontario government won leave to appeal that decision at the Supreme Court of Canada, where the case won't likely be resolved before 2003.  Meanwhile, Powley says he still plans to hunt without a provincial licence despite a local enforcement officer's warning that Powley's meat and guns could be seized if he follows through on his hunting plans.  ''Any Métis person found in contravention of the regulations will be investigated, facts will be reviewed case by case and charges may be laid,'' said Jolanta Kowalski, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Natural Resources in Toronto.  Talks between Métis leaders and Ontario negotiators have so far failed to produce an interim agreement for this fall's hunting season.  ''I know there's a lot of hard feeling with our people out there,'' said Powley, a diabetic. ''It's spiteful to harass the Métis people.''  Powley uses a wheelchair and collects a disability pension after losing half his right leg when a cut sustained on a remote hunting trip became infected, he said.  To make matters worse, he later lost half his left foot, also to an infection that developed in part because of poor medical attention, he said.  Powley, 53, and his son Roddy, 27, were charged in 1993 under the Ontario Game and Fish Act after they shot and killed a bull moose near Sault Ste. Marie without a moose-hunting license.  Status Indians in the same region have a treaty right to hunt for food which is recognized under the act.  But Ontario government lawyers argued that native hunting rights can't be granted to Métis across Canada without a clear, accepted definition of who they are and without jeopardizing conservation efforts across Canada.  The total Métis population across Canada is estimated at about 300,000, with at least 10,000 adults living in Ontario.  In a watershed ruling, the trial judge dismissed the charges against Powley and his son after hearing expert testimony on Métis history, culture and practices along with the government's contention that any infringement of an aboriginal right was justified in this case.  As is usual in such applications, the country's high court gave no reasons Thursday for agreeing to hear the case. It generally considers matters of national scope with the power to set far-reaching precedents.  ''I think the Supreme Court has actually been waiting for a case like this to come up to them,'' said Jean Teillet, Powley's lawyer.  ''What we have right now is a big (legal) vacuum for the Métis people and the Supreme Court is aware of that. They'll take this opportunity to set the broad principles down.''  Teillet is also the great-grandniece of Louis Riel, the famous Métis leader who was hanged in 1885 in Regina for leading the Northwest Rebellion against Ottawa.  ''The case is obviously close to my heart and to my people.''