Avoid court challenges over hunting, Metis leader cautions

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The Metis Nation of Alberta Provincial Vice-President Ken Bourque asks that members give the issue of hunting and wildlife co-management more time and study before finalizing any agreement with the province. He said the process has been underway for about a year and a half.

"If we rush the process, there's a danger it will not reflect the wishes of the Metis people," Bourque said.

His main concern is that "we do not get caught up in situations of court appeals like other provinces over the right to hunt, fish and gather, and we must make sure there is a mechanism in place to protect Metis people from being penalized for exercising their Aboriginal rights."

Bourque also wants to see related items such as a budget and negotiated funding, staffing and eligibility to exercise hunting rights worked out before signing on to a binding agreement with the Province of Alberta.

"The draft management plan is not up to par," he said.

The impetus for quick resolution of outstanding hunting rights issues stems from a 1998 Ontario judicial pronouncement that said Metis should have the same right to hunt as First Nations. The MNA established the Metis Harvest Council to "administer the Metis Harvest in Alberta, and include in their mandate the formation of the Metis Wildlife and Conservation Act," a press release states.

The council met several times with former environmental protection minister Ty Lund, and as recently as July with his successor, Gary Mar.

The proposed legislation is under review by MNA legal counsel. Bourque, while he commends the work of the harvest council in bringing the process this far, is personally opposed to the council's recommendation of a harvest card that would be separate and in addition to their Metis membership card.

He said at the recent Metis annual assembly, comments from the floor indicated most people thought one card was good enough.

"The harvest council without consultation wanted to process the card; I could not understand why other leaders would want to pass another card which would weaken our rights (to govern ourselves)," Bourque said.

The co-ordinator for the Metis Settlements General Council, Tim Leclair, said "We have our own discrete issues," in managing wildlife and hunting on 1.25 million acres," and said what the Metis Nation does is not their concern. He added, though, that his organization is "generally supportive" of the harvest council. Some settlement members choose also to be members of MNA, Leclair said, and it is up to them to decide individually what their position will be regarding hunting outside settlement boundaries.

Leclair added the Metis Council has a general policy to defend settlement members who exercise hunting rights off-settlement and are charged. "This doesn't happen very often," he said. Leclair pointed to the Daniels case at Fishing Lake three years ago as a case that the council won, but said it was a fairly limited decision.

A former senior advisor to the minister of Aboriginal Affairs, who did not want to be named, said as a Metis living in an urban setting he doesn't think the proposed wildlife and conservation legislation will apply to him.

"I just follow the provincial regulations and go out and get your hunting licence," he said.

Attempts by Sweetgrass to contact Alberta environment officials were unsuccessful.