And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (S.I.S.I.S.) writes: SUPREME COURT TO RULE ON WHAT IS INCLUDED IN NATIVE HUNTING RIGHTS The National Post, March 22, 1999 by Luiza Chwialkowska [S.I.S.I.S. note: The following mainstream news article may contain biased or distorted information and may be missing pertinent facts and/or context. It is provided for reference only.] In a case that pits the hunting rights of aboriginals against the efforts of provincial governments to protect natural areas, the Supreme Court will decide this week whether a Cree man has the constitutional right to build a log cabin in a Saskatchewan provincial park. The decision, expected Thursday, will help clarify the largely untested question of what activities comprise constitutionally protected native hunting rights, and may indicate whether access to modern technology, such as cars, can force natives to give up certain "traditional" hunting practices. In 1992, John Sundown, a Cree from the Joseph Bighead Reserve in northern Saskatchewan, cut down 25 spruce trees near the shore of Mistohay Lake in Meadowlake Provincial Park, and built a log cabin where he slept while hunting moose and deer, trapped muskrat, and smoked the fish and meat he caught. Although the cabin merely replaced an earlier, dilapidated structure, Mr. Sundown was convicted the same year of building on Crown land without a permit. Arguing that his ancestors had built hunting shelters, initially moss-covered lean-tos, later log cabins, in the same area for generations, Mr. Sundown successfully appealed the decision to the Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench. The shelters had been indispensible to his band's hunts -- lengthy horse-cart and dog-sled expeditions into the forests of the area, Mr. Sundown said. The court agreed that by building the 30 by 40 foot cabin, Mr. Sundown was merely exercising his right to hunt in the manner of his forefathers, a right guaranteed by a 1913 treaty, he argued. In acquitting Mr. Sundown, the court stated that the right to hunt "encompasses other rights, including, in this case, the right to construct a shelter from which to carry out or exercise the right to hunt." Fearing an explosion of unregulated cabin-building that would "jeopardize the very existence" of its provincial parks, the province appealed the case to the Supreme Court, where the governments of Alberta, Quebec, and Manitoba, have joined as interveners. Since both sides agree that the cabin is not indispensible to the hunt, Thursday's decision may depend in large part on the Supreme Court's definition of the word "incidental." In a 1985 decision, Regina V. Simon, the Court exempted a Nova Scotia Mi'kmaq from laws against travelling with a rifle and ammunition, declaring that, "the right to hunt to be effective must embody those activities reasonably incidental to the act of hunting itself." Mr. Sundown's lawyer, Jim Jodouin, argues that "incidental to the act of hunting" means all activities related to hunting. Mitch McAdam, a Crown attorney, says "incidental" means only those activities that are "necessary" to the hunt. "The vast majority of hunters, Indian and non-Indian alike, engage in this activity without cutting down trees and building a cabin," Mr. McAdam told the Court. Because Mr. Sundown can drive to the hunting site from his home on the reserve in less than an hour, "the lack of a cabin would have only a minimal impact on the exercise of [his rights,]" Mr. McAdam said. In a dissenting opinion, one Court of Queen's Bench judge echoed this view, stating that, "at some point, modern technology adopted by natives makes the concept of ancient traditional hunting methods irrelevant beyond its historical interest." But Mr. Jodouin says that Canadian law guarantees the band's right to hunt, "the way they have always done it and the way they like to do it. We find that the province is continually taking steps to preserve the resources for use by non-aboriginal people, without regard for pre-existing rights of aboriginal people," he says. Mr. Sundown, a maintenance worker at a reserve school, says the cabin helps preserve his band's culture, and is shared by his family, neighbours, and school children. "My grandfathers were hunting and trapping here years back," Mr. Sundown says. "No province should interfere with my inherent right." :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: SOVEREIGNTY IS THE ANSWER - CANADA IS THE PROBLEM Letters to the National Post - mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2 EMAIL : <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html SOVERNET-L is a news-only listserv concerned with indigenous sovereigntist struggles around the world. 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