A Métis lawyer is urging the province to apply hunting rights equally.
This comes after Branden Morin was fined last weekend for hunting Elk in the Qu’Appelle Valley without a permit.
Thursday in front of the Legislature, Clem Chartier stated the Court of Queen’s Bench has ruled in 2007 that Métis in southern Saskatchewan have subsistence hunting and fishing rights.
He referenced the “Belhumeur decision,” which Judge D.I. Morris found Donald Belhumeur not guilty of fishing without a license near Lebret. Belhumeur presented his Metis citizen card and instructed conservation officers he did not need a fishing license under section 35 of the Constitution Act, which grants hunting and fishing Rights to Aboriginal and Métis Peoples.
The province initially appealed that decision, but rescinded in 2015. Chartier contends the province is only recognizing Métis rights in the North, as per the provincial “Treaty and Aboriginal Rights for Hunting and Fishing Guide 2018.
“I have a difficult time understanding why or how the provincial government can be allowed to simply disregard a decision of a provincial court when it comes to Métis section 35 rights,” Chartier said.
Chartier has written to Attorney General Don Morgan asking him to rectify the situation.
Yet Morin found the situation confusing. He said Conservation Officers told him that he would not be issued fines if he were hunting in the north.
Morin explained that he was threatened to have his firearm and harvest taken, but after three-hours he was allowed to keep his firearm and a status family member was allowed to take the wild game.
He said his fines were into the thousands but that legal advice given suggests the fines contradict each other. He will appeal in court in December.