By Charlene Tebbutt

Judge rules on challenge over Métis hunting and fishing rights

Dec 31, 2018 | 3:39 PM

Three men charged with illegally hunting and fishing in northwest Saskatchewan have lost a challenge to government regulations over Métis rights to hunt and fish.

The men were charged in three separate incidents going back to 2012.  The three went to trial at the same time, arguing their Métis status gives them rights to hunt and fish as “Indians” under the federal government’s Natural Resources Transfer Agreement [NRTA].

In a decision earlier this month from Meadow Lake Provincial Court, Judge Earl Kalenith disagreed, finding Métis peoples are not “Indians” as described in the NRTA between the province and the federal government.

“I agree with the Crown that Canada had no express constitutional obligation to the Métis in Saskatchewan from which a fiduciary or any related legal obligation could arise and no power to include the Métis in the NRTA, a negotiated agreement, without Saskatchewan’s agreement,” Kalenith said in the judgment.

The case looked at each of the men’s historical links to the area, their current Métis status, genealogical history of the Métis in northwest Saskatchewan, and settlement in the area.

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Warren Boyer was charged with unlawful fishing relating to an incident in March 2014 at Chitek Lake, while another man, Billy Myette, was charged with hunting without a valid license stemming from an incident at Rush Lake in November 2013. A third man, Oliver Poitras, was charged after he was found hunting at Alcott Creek in November 2012.

Myette was found not guilty of the charge of hunting without a valid license. He was found hunting on the Rush Lake Fireguard Road, southwest of the southern tip of Green Lake, the court decision notes. While the Crown argued the area was not part of the historic Métis community of northwest Saskatchewan, Kalenith found otherwise.

Boyer was convicted of the charge against him and fined a total of $41. Although evidence shows he has an ancestral connection to the area and is currently a member of the local Métis community, Kalenith ruled a Métis community did not exist in the area before European control and was not part of the historic Métis community of northwest Saskatchewan.

In the case involving Oliver Poitras, he was convicted of unlawful hunting in relation to an incident near Alcott Creek, about 37 kilometres south of Meadow Lake. Poitras claimed he had a historical right to hunt, arguing that his father was a trapper in the area, but Kalenith disagreed, finding that the area was not part of the historic Métis community.

Poitras was fined a total of $580 on the charge.

Crown Prosecutor James Fyfe said the case was significant because of the challenge to the NRTA. While other cases of Métis rights have come up before in Saskatchewan, Fyfe said the challenge to the NRTA was a first.

“Had they won on that question, it would have been groundbreaking,” Fyfe said. “But, we do have some clarity on it, at least in Saskatchewan.”

In Saskatchewan, those with constitutionally-protected Treaty rights are exempt from certain provincial hunting and fishing laws. Saskatchewan Environment’s guide on Treaty and Aboriginal rights states those from certain historic and contemporary Métis communities may exercise Aboriginal rights to hunt, fish and trap for food in some areas of the province, namely within certain areas of northern Saskatchewan.

Charlene.tebbutt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @CharleneTebbutt