Hirsekorn case heard at Alberta Court of Appeal

On Feb. 6, a three-member panel of the Alberta Court of Appeal in Calgary heard the first Métis harvesting rights case to be considered by an appellate court since the landmark Powley case over a decade ago. The case – R. v. Hirsekorn – dates back to the Stelmach government’s 2007 cancellation of a Métis harvesting agreement that implemented the Powley decision in Alberta. Following the cancellation of this agreement, the Métis Nation of Alberta proceeded to organize traditional hunts across the province to protest the cancellation. The Hirsekorn case is one of the charges that came out of those hunts, and was taken as a test case for Alberta Métis. In attendance at the hearing were MNA President Audrey Poitras and Métis National Council President Clément Chartier.