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Powley
Questions and answers regarding Powley
What is the Powley matter?
In 1993, Steve and Roddy Powley, two members of our equivalent association in Ontario, OMAA, located close to Sault Ste. Marie, were formerly accused of hunting a bull moose in infringement of the provincial law in Ontario.
In 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada, seized with this case, made its undeniable decision, to the effect that the Metis have rights to subsistence as well as the Indians and Inuits of Canada; what we now know as the Powley Act.
What did the Powley judgement say?
The father and son Powley, members of a metis community located near Sault Ste. Marie, were discharged of illegally hunting a bull moose without holding a hunting permit and to having had in their possession, game hunted in infringement of the Game and Fish Act of Ontario.
The judge of the lawsuit concluded that paragraph 35 (1) of the Constitutional Act of 1982 guarantees an ancestral right to the members of the metis community of Sault Ste. Marie and its surroundings allowing them to hunt to sustain themselves, and the Ontarian regulations on hunting undermines this right in an unjustified way.
Does the Powley Act apply to us?
Yes, without a doubt. During the past few years at the NAQ, certain people wanted to incorrectly let you believe that this judgement did not apply to us here at the NAQ. Know that these assertions are completely false! The Supreme Court of Canada specified that the word “Metis” in article 35 of the Constutional Act of 1982 does not include all of those of mixed Indian and European ancestry. Rather, it includes the distinct people which, in addition to their mixed ancestry, have their own customs and recognizable collective identity distinct from those of their Indian or Inuit ancestors, on one hand, and their European ancestors, on the other.
It added that a metis community is a group of Metis having a distinctive collective identity, living together in the same area and sharing a common way of life. Moreover, the basic criteria used by the Supreme Court of Canada to identify if a persion is a Metis within the Powley Act seems to be inspired by the membership criteria of the NAQ.
1- To self-identify as Metis (self-identification);
2- Acceptance by the actual community;
3- Have documented proof of belonging.
Are the communities affiliated with the AAQ considered Metis groups?
Absolutely, for the most part. But we would have to perform various analysis and research on individual and collective rights of the members of the Alliance in order to correctly define the status of the members of the Native Alliance of Quebec and its communities under article 35 of the Constitutional Act of 1982 within the framework of the Powley Act.
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