Case information

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Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Aboriginal rights — Hunting — Non-status Indians — Applicant charged with hunting during a prohibited period — Applicant seeking stay of proceedings and invoking Aboriginal right to hunt — Motion for stay dismissed and applicant found guilty — Whether criteria set out in R. v. Powley, 2003 SCC 43, apply in whole or in part to assertion of Aboriginal rights by non-status Indians? — Whether descendants of an Aboriginal group that was disbanded and dispersed due to Crown conduct can revive ability to claim protections of s. 35 of Constitution Act, 1982? — Whether Crown can rely on effects of its historical conduct to disperse and assimilate an Aboriginal community in order to defeat an assertion of a s. 35 right? — Whether a person’s Aboriginal ancestry and assertion of an Aboriginal right constitute special and relevant considerations in determining whether state-funded counsel should be provided to defend against a regulatory offence?

In October 2008, the applicant was intercepted by a game warden while hunting in a wildlife sanctuary located roughly 100 kilometers north of Gatineau, Quebec. He was charged with hunting large game during a prohibited period, contrary to s. 56 of the Act Respecting the Conservation and Development of Wildlife, C.Q.L.R. c. C-61.1 (“the Act”) and the Regulation Respecting Hunting, C.Q.L.R. c. C-61.1, r. 12.

A non-status Indian, the applicant requested a stay of proceedings on the basis of his aboriginal heritage. Pursuant to s. 95 of the Code of Civil Procedure, C.Q.L.R. c. C-25, he also filed a Notice of Intention signaling his intent to seek a ruling that s. 56 of the Act is inapplicable to him by reason of his ancestral rights under s. 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982.

The applicant is a descendent of the Tsit-Kanaja Kaniengehaga, an Iroquoian people whose traditional territory was located in proximity to the Chaudière Falls which span the Ottawa River in the Ottawa/Gatineau area. The applicant identifies as a member of the Tsit-Kanaja Kaniengehaga, a historic community that was evicted and disbanded in the 1800s. That historic community, once disbanded, did not relocate as a group. As an adult, the applicant took steps to create his own contemporary community within the wildlife sanctuary, an area to which he felt a spiritual attachment.