BREAKING: Sinixt, First Nation bordering Canada-U.S., can claim Indigenous rights, top court rules

The Supreme Court of Canada has recognized the existence of the Sinixt in Canada in a landmark decision.

Richard Desautel, a Sinixt resident in Washington State, shot an elk near Castlegar, B.C. in 2010. He was arrested and charged with hunting out of season and as a non-resident.

But his case, and now victory at Canada’s highest court following a 7-2 decision, was about more than hunting rights. It acknowledges the Sinixt as a people 65 years after they were declared extinct in Canada by the federal government.

Desautel was previously acquitted in B.C. Provincial Court in Nelson, B.C., on aboriginal rights grounds in 2016. The province twice appealed the decision, first to the Supreme Court of B.C. and then to the B.C. Court of Appeal, and lost both times with the judges in each hearing siding with Desautel.

The province then appealed the matter to the Supreme Court of Canada, which heard legal arguments in the matter in October before releasing its decision Friday.

The central question the court considered was whether people who are not Canadian citizens and do not reside in Canada can exercise an Aboriginal right under the Canadian Constitution.

One of the issues was the definition of “Aboriginal peoples of Canada,” as the term appears in Section 35 of the Constitution. This is the first time the Court has interpreted this phrase.

The majority of the judges said that “Aboriginal peoples of Canada” means the current descendants of societies that occupied Canadian territory at the time of European contact, even if those societies are now located outside of Canada.

The judges accepted the 2016 findings of the BC Provincial Court trial judge that Desautel’s group, the Lakes Tribe, is a successor group of the Sinixt people in Canada at the time of contact, and that the group’s territory included land that is now in Washington and B.C.

The majority agreed that hunting in what is now Canada is a continuation of a historical Sinixt practice, stating that there is essentially no difference between the pre-contact practice and the current one.

The Nelson Star will be reporting on more details of the decision as soon as they are available.

READ MORE:

• U.S. hunter defends Sinixt rights in Nelson court

• Historic trial on Sinixt rights nears conclusion

• Sinixt hunter acquitted in Nelson court

• Province loses Sinixt hunting appeal

• B.C. appeals Sinixt hunting case again

• B.C.’s top court upholds Sinixt rights in elk-hunting case

• Sinixt and B.C. argue rights at Supreme Court of Canada

• B.C.’s top court upholds Sinixt rights in elk-hunting case

• Supreme Court of Canada will hear Sinixt appeal

• Sinixt hunting case accepted for hearing by Supreme Court of Canada

• B.C. to be first to implement UN Indigenous rights declaration

bill.metcalfe@nelsonstar.com Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter

Abbotsford News

Richard Desautel with supporters outside the courthouse in Nelson, B.C., in 2016. Photo: Bill Metcalfe