Ontario ruling helps Hudson
Terry Halifax
Northern News Services
Fort Smith (Feb 26/01) - An Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court ruling that recognizes Metis hunting rights.
Steve Powley and his son Roddy Powley killed a moose on Oct. 22 1993, near Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
The Powleys were charged with unlawfully hunting, but that charge was dismissed at trial in 1998, a decision that was upheld by the Superior Court of Appeal in January 2000. The Ontario government appealed and last week lost again.
The Powleys' lawyer, Jean Teillet, expects the Ontario government will likely appeal a third time.
She also represents Fort Smith Metis Kenny Hudson who has intentionally hunted in Wood Buffalo National Park three times, but has not had a day in court. Teillet said this decision solidifies Hudson's case.
"One paragraph of the decision is very appropriate to Kenny and essentially it says that governments cannot sit on its hands and defend its inaction because the nature of the right or the identity of the bearers of the right is uncertain."
Hudson has still not been charged with his second or third hunts.
