OTTAWA (CU)_The ancestral rights of an indigenous tribe in Canada, which was declared “extinct” by the government five decades ago, was restored by the country’s top court on Friday (23 April). Accordingly, in a 7-2 decision by the Supreme Court, the Sinixt Nation were granted constitutionally protected rights to hunt in the valley stretching from Kettle Falls in Washington, to Revelstoke in British Columbia, a territory which they claim to have once occupied.
“Excluding aboriginal peoples who moved or were forced to move, or whose territory was divided by a border, would add to the injustice of colonialism,” a summary of the case read.
After the last surviving member of the Sinixt Nation died in 1956, the Canadian government declared the community to be “extinct”, following which their rights were effectively extinguished.
This led to the charging of Richard Desautel, a tribal member, for hunting without license after he shot and killed an elk in a traditional territory of his people in British Columbia. Therefore, he travelled from the United States to Canada to fight the penalty imposed on him.
Although, the prosecutors argued that since Desautel was not a part of a recognised indigenous group he had no right to hunt for ceremonial purposes, however, the trial judge acquitted him on the basis that the Sinixt community had hunted and fished in the region before and after first European contact in 1811.
The decision was appealed all the way up to the Supreme Court which upheld the decision.
The ruling is expected to have broader implications on other members of indigenous tribes who are neither citizens nor residents of Canada, who could claim aboriginal rights in the country, so long as they could prove ties to local lands at the time of first contact.
