Court rules the Sinixt are legitimately aboriginal people under the Constitution
In a historic decision, the Supreme Court of B.C. has ruled that the Sinixt are legitimately aboriginal people under the Constitution of Canada.
Until Justice Robert Sewell’s decision last week, the group has been non-existent in the eyes of the provincial and federal governments as a result of the federal government’s declaration in 1956 that the Sinixt were extinct in Canada.
In Nelson’s B.C. Provincial Court in March, 2017, Richard Desautel, a Sinixt man and U.S. citizen, was found not guilty of shooting an elk out of season in Canada as a non-resident. Judge Lisa Mrozinski ruled that Sinixt hunting rights in Canada have endured to the present day and that even though he did not live in Canada he was part of an aboriginal “rights-bearing group.”
The province appealed her decision to the Supreme Court of B.C. The appeal hearing was held in September and Sewell handed down his written decision last week, upholding the lower court decision.
Desautel said in a news release that he is “extremely pleased to see the spiritually important decision of the Provincial Court upheld, again confirming our indigenous traditions and natural laws. We intend to continue our work of strengthening ties to both our Canadian territory and the citizens of British Columbia.”
Much of the appeal turned on the question of whether the Sinixt could be considered to have aboriginal rights under the Charter of Rights considering, as the crown argued, that they live mostly in the U.S. separated from Canada by an international boundary.
http://www.nelsonstar.com/news/province-loses-sinixt-hunting-appeal/
In a historic decision, the Supreme Court of B.C. has ruled that the Sinixt are legitimately aboriginal people under the Constitution of Canada.
Until Justice Robert Sewell’s decision last week, the group has been non-existent in the eyes of the provincial and federal governments as a result of the federal government’s declaration in 1956 that the Sinixt were extinct in Canada.
In Nelson’s B.C. Provincial Court in March, 2017, Richard Desautel, a Sinixt man and U.S. citizen, was found not guilty of shooting an elk out of season in Canada as a non-resident. Judge Lisa Mrozinski ruled that Sinixt hunting rights in Canada have endured to the present day and that even though he did not live in Canada he was part of an aboriginal “rights-bearing group.”
The province appealed her decision to the Supreme Court of B.C. The appeal hearing was held in September and Sewell handed down his written decision last week, upholding the lower court decision.
Desautel said in a news release that he is “extremely pleased to see the spiritually important decision of the Provincial Court upheld, again confirming our indigenous traditions and natural laws. We intend to continue our work of strengthening ties to both our Canadian territory and the citizens of British Columbia.”
Much of the appeal turned on the question of whether the Sinixt could be considered to have aboriginal rights under the Charter of Rights considering, as the crown argued, that they live mostly in the U.S. separated from Canada by an international boundary.
http://www.nelsonstar.com/news/province-loses-sinixt-hunting-appeal/
