Metis Hunting Rights Advocate Dies

Metis Hunting Rights Advocate Dies

Thursday, September 06, 2007 at 15:10

 

 

A funeral is being held in Melville today for a Yorkton-area man at the centre of a high-profile Metis hunting rights case in the mid-1990s.

 

John Grumbo passed away this past Saturday at the Yorkton Hospital from numerous medical conditions.

 

Grumbo was charged under the Wildlife Act as a “non-Indian” receiving a deer from an Indian.

 

His defence was based on arguing that Métis were included in the term “Indian” in the 1930 Natural Resources Transfer Agreement.

 

His trial in provincial court in 1995 ended with a conviction.

 

However, that ruling was overturned in Court of Queen’s Bench in August 1996.

 

With that decision, anyone within Saskatchewan who could prove he or she was Métis could hunt without a licence — including Métis from surrounding provinces.

 

The Crown appealed that ruling, and in May 1998 the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal overturned the Queen’s Bench decision.

 

The Crown eventually stayed the case.