Metis Fishing Rights Ruling Won’t Be Appealed
Friday, August 12, 2005 at 13:55
The province is making two significant policy changes with regards to Metis harvesting rights, now that it’s decided not to appeal a recent court decision.
Crown prosecutor Mitch McAdam says Judge Earl Kalenith’s ruling in the Laviolette case was consistent with what was spelled out in the Supreme Court’s 2003 Powley decision.
For that reason, McAdam says Saskatchewan Environment is changing the four criteria is has been using when determining whether Metis can practice hunting and fishing rights.
For one, those rights have been extended to Metis people residing in the Meadow Lake area — not just Metis living in the Northern Administration District.
As well, McAdam says an additional cultural practice requirement that had previously been required will now be satisfied simply through subsistence fishing and hunting.
McAdam says the department’s previous interpretation of Metis fishing rights in the North already allowed the portability of those rights, so that won’t need to be changed.