After 16 years the Daniels case claiming Metis and Non-Status Indians are the responsibility of the federal government made it the Supreme Court of Canada.
In 1999, Harry Daniels, a Saskatchewan Metis leader, filed a lawsuit claiming the Metis and Non-Status Indians should fall under the Constitution and be included under the legal definition of being an Indian.
Yesterday, Canada’s High Court heard the arguments and reserved the decision.
The president of the Metis National Council felt pretty good after listening to the evidence.
Clem Chartier says the federal government lawyers made weak arguments.
“Quite a bit is riding for the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, the court can decide both Metis and Non-Status Indians are in without defining it, or they could say the Metis are in and they could just leave it wide open, or they could say the Metis are in bit it is the Metis that are covered by the Pawley decision from 2003.”
The Supreme Court reserved its decision on Thursday.