A possibly precedent setting trial on Métis hunting rights is set to begin in Meadow Lake on Monday.
The crux of the case will be questions around whether Métis harvesting rights can carry to jurisdictions beyond their home territory.
Oliver Poitras and Warren Boyer were charged and convicted for unlawfully hunting and fishing in the Chitek Lake area outside their traditional Métis community in the northwest.
The two were convicted in provincial court in 2018, with that conviction upheld at the Court of King’s Bench in 2020.
However, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal would order a new trial for the two men in 2022.
The trial for Poitras and Boyer now includes Harold St. Pierre who was charged in a similar situation near Yorkton.
The case is being described as a test case in the province to determine if Métis hunting rights can be carried across the province not just in a Métis person’s specific traditional territory.
Kathy Hodgson-Smith, a lawyer representing the men, says as many similar matters continue to come before the courts it was important to get clarity on this issue.
“As you know from the past, Métis Aboriginal rights cases have been argued and defended and decided based on quite a narrow approach, a regional approach,” said Hodgson-Smith at a media conference about the court-case in Saskatoon Thursday morning. “These are very, expensive cases. There’s a lot of work to them. The amount of evidence that the Métis are required to bring is substantial. It’s really a matter of fairness.”
The lawyer with Procido LLP law firm says while there will be many issues brought forward in the court-case the issue of the mobility of Métis rights will be core to the arguments presented.
“In this case, we will be looking for the right to hunt and fish for food as part of a mobile lifestyle. So people don’t give up the right because they move, because they change the village they live in, or decide to go to school or move for whatever reason, the right remains with them where they reside in the homeland.”
The trial is expected to be quite lengthy.
Over the next three weeks over 30 community witnesses are expected to be called over a three week period.
The matter is then scheduled to resume in September with expert witnesses scheduled to provide testimony over a two-week period.
Hodgon-Smith believes there most likely won’t be a resolution on the matter until 2026.
“There’s a lot of evidence there,” she said. “I think it would be quite ambitious to get a decision in 2025, but I think it would be most welcome by the Métis.”
(Top Photo: Lawyer Kathy Hodgson-Smith speaks at a press conference in Saskatoon. Photo by Joel Willick)