Court Of Appeal Sides With Metis

CALGARY — The Alberta Court of Appeal has agreed to hear the case of a Metis man challenging Alberta’s Metis hunting rules.

In a four-page decision, Justice Constance Hunt granted leave to appeal the conviction against Garry Hirsekorn.

Hirsekorn was charged in 2007 after he shot a mule deer in the Cypress Hills.

In December 2010 a provincial court judge found Hirsekorn guilty of hunting out of season and illegal possession of wildlife.

A Court of Queen’s Bench justice upheld the conviction in a November 2011 decision.

The case is strongly linked to a landmark decision on Metis hunting rights, the Powley decision, which established a 10-part test adapting aboriginal hunting rights to Metis people.

In Hunt’s decision, he said Hirsekorn should be granted the chance to argue how the Powley case applies to Metis living on the Prairies.

The Metis Nation of Alberta applauded the ruling and said it goes to the heart of a 2007 Alberta government decision to cancel a province wide Metis hunting agreement.

“We are extremely pleased that the Alberta Court of Appeal rejected the Alberta government’s arguments to deny leave to appeal and that the court has agreed to hear this important case for all Alberta Metis,” Audrey Poitras, Metis Nation of Alberta president, said in a statement.

A hearing before an Alberta Court of Appeal panel is expected this spring.

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related reading ;
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2009/01/08/metis-hunting.html