# Supreme Court extends rights to Métis and non-status Indians



## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Breaking news... the Supreme Court has ruled that non-status Indians, and Métis, are also the responsibility of the federal government and have the same rights previously only enjoyed by First Nations
http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/métis-indians-supreme-court-ruling-1.3535236


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## twa2w (Mar 5, 2016)

Interesting but how does one determine who is a non-status Indian or Metis. Lots of people claim to have some native blood. How much do you need and how do you prove it.

What rights do you get? Free university education? No sales tax? The no income tax rule applies only to reserve income. Every treaty has different rights.

Do you only get 1/2 the money spent on you for health and education like the people on reserves get compared to the rest of the population?

A landmine this for sure.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

I presume more details will emerge in the news -- this is a huge story, it's been 17 years of court battles. This was a unanimous ruling by the Supreme Court.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/metis-indians-supreme-court-ruling-1.3535236

At the very least, it's recognition of Métis rights. It sounds like a great day for the Métis!


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## doctrine (Sep 30, 2011)

_*"Métis and non-status Indians have long argued that because neither the provinces nor Ottawa have been willing to accept jurisdiction, they have fallen through the cracks. 
That's led to poor educational outcomes, health problems, high unemployment and lack of economic development in Métis communities."*_

This should help solve the problem of poor educational outcomes, health problems, high unemployment, and a lack of economic development, similar to other First Nations communities that fall under the Federal government. A good day!


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## twa2w (Mar 5, 2016)

doctrine said:


> _*"Métis and non-status Indians have long argued that because neither the provinces nor Ottawa have been willing to accept jurisdiction, they have fallen through the cracks.
> That's led to poor educational outcomes, health problems, high unemployment and lack of economic development in Métis communities."*_
> 
> This should help solve the problem of poor educational outcomes, health problems, high unemployment, and a lack of economic development, similar to other First Nations communities that fall under the Federal government. A good day!


How so, it sure hasn't helped the recognized reserves. They have poor educational outcomes, health problems, high unemployment and limited to no economic development. Why oh why would the Métis want that.? Will it actually change something. Are they actually worse off today than a lot of reserves are now?
Métis and non status Indians currently have all the rights of full Canadian citizens.


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## RCB (Jan 11, 2014)

twa2w said:


> Interesting but how does one determine who is a non-status Indian or Metis. Lots of people claim to have some native blood. How much do you need and how do you prove it.
> 
> What rights do you get? Free university education? No sales tax? The no income tax rule applies only to reserve income. Every treaty has different rights.
> 
> ...


I'm Metis, do not have my card, but my brother does, and my mother did. (The chuckle is that she was born in England.). 

In Ontario, Metis status is determined by the Metis Nation of Ontario. You must apply, pay a fee, and submit your sourced genealogical information, proving a direct native ancestor. It can be very difficult to find that ancestor, as records noting the ethnicity of many past native people don't exist. My most recent, DOCUMENTED, 100% native ancestor was born in the late 1600s. Fortunately a priest recorded "sauvagess" in the parish register at the time of her marriage to her French husband. Metis status was awarded due to that ancestor. We are certain other ancestors were at least 50% native, for various reasons, but are without proof.

My mother did the work as I turned her on to genealogy, and she knew there was native ancestry and wanted to prove it because she thought it was cool. My brother applied for his card as he is a northern Ontario hunter/fisherman, and was hoping to have the same hunting and fishing rights as his Status friends that live off reservere, in his rural area. Unfortunately for my brother, the Crown restricts those rights to traditional area. This means my brother's area is where his direct native or Metis ancestors were at the time of Confederation. That happened to be the Ottawa area, not the Lake Superior area where he lives. So if he wants to avoid the usual hunting/fishing restrictions, he can only do so in the Ottawa area.

I am contemplating getting my card, as I've recently bought rural property. My faint hope is that if there ever is a land claim issue where my property is located, I'll get to keep it. Like I said, faint hope.

As to any other "perks", doubtful. If I get it together and get our cards, maybe my youngest kid will be eligible for another scholarship or two.


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## mordko (Jan 23, 2016)

Step in the right direction. The next step should be to recognize all Canadians as non-status Indians so that all of us have the same rights and obligations.


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## RCB (Jan 11, 2014)

I definitely agree. Maybe the Metis associations will push hard for no tax, which of course the government would never accept. A firestorm from that could begin to enable talks towards equality for all Canadians.


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

twa2w said:


> Interesting but how does one determine who is a non-status Indian or Metis. Lots of people claim to have some native blood. How much do you need and how do you prove it.
> 
> What rights do you get? Free university education? No sales tax? The no income tax rule applies only to reserve income. Every treaty has different rights.
> 
> ...


There is no free university education- I have my Status and there is nothing like that available to me. I think the only way there is anything like that is if you apply to your band and they approve funding- it's not a government thing and definitely not 'automatic'. There are a lot of misconceptions about what Status benefits are; there are not really many financial advantages unless you live, work, or earn some type of income on a reserve. I can get tax-free gas if I buy on a reserve, I can shop at the south side of Park Royal mall in North Vancouver and pay no tax, and I can fish without a license. And I think I can drive across the border without a passport. Big deal.

As someone else stated, it can also be very difficult to prove lineage. My sister and I had to go to enormous lengths, ridiculous amounts of paperwork, research, and detailed documentation, and it took both of us several years to finally get Status- it took my sister almost ten years, she had to resubmit a lot of stuff, continually write letters to AADNC; it then took me about five years after she'd laid the groundwork- even though she already had status and I was applying with all the same documentation she used. Almost all of our ancestors are gone, and there were extremely poor, erroneous, or missing records, or they simply were not kept in some areas, so there was a lot of detective work involved- grandparent's marriage certificates, old birth certificates, etc etc.


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

mordko said:


> Step in the right direction. The next step should be to recognize all Canadians as non-status Indians so that all of us have the same rights and obligations.


Why should *all* Canadians be recognized as non-status Indians? All Canadians are not; it's called First Nations for a reason.


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## The_Tosser (Oct 20, 2015)

indexxx said:


> Why should *all* Canadians be recognized as non-status Indians? All Canadians are not; it's called First Nations for a reason.


it's because you don't deserve any more rights than anyone else. It's odd that this is so unclear, lol.

What or who your ancestors were is irrelevant. What matters is the here and now and how we help all Canadians live a better life. Especially the down and out, which includes walks of all colours. Help them for that reason. The government picks winners and loser all the time anyway, at least make it a sensible form of social engineering than doesn't depend on silliness like who your great-great-grampy was as a measure of anything worth measuring. We are a rich country. We have enough for all citizens and should help each other as warranted. But again, do it for that reason and let's skip the nonsense. You had as much to do with any long ago struggle as i did, which is exactly ZERO involvement. The criteria as laid out is garbage.

If your status is 'no big deal' or if the aid is minimal, then why would you waste a decade of effort to obtain it?


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## mordko (Jan 23, 2016)

indexxx said:


> Why should *all* Canadians be recognized as non-status Indians? All Canadians are not; it's called First Nations for a reason.


Like the Tosser says ^^.... Here are some basics:

- All humans are "Natives". We are all native to Africa. 
- Soil does not have ethnicity. 
- It really shouldn't matter where your great grandma was born. 

Besides, this special status does not seem to be working for the First Nations... Why would we want to make more people like them? Equality shouldn't be a meaningless slogan.


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## twa2w (Mar 5, 2016)

Re my free University education comment. There are many reserves and bands that do provide free education from funds orovided by the government but you are correct that it is not a treaty right from the g of c. There are some provinces where sales tax is waived for first nations.

How much native blood does one need to have to qualify as Métis. Not much from some of the comments on this thread. If you had one ancestor in 1650 who was native, there would be, at a minimum, 7 generationas since then but more likely more than 10. At 7 generations you would have 1/128 native assuming my math is somewhat correct. 
1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64, 1/128.... 
Sounds like bs to me. 
But if that is the case maybe I will apply.
Perhaps we set up dna testing. Anyone with more than say 20% can qualify as Métis. Wouldn't that be a hornets nest 
You qualify but your sister doesn't - oops.


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## LBCfan (Jan 13, 2011)

One of my friends is what the SCC would call a non-status Indian. He was born to a status Indian mother who lost her status by marrying an ordinary Cnadian. Several years ago, he could have claimed status "by birth". He didn't. We had lunch and a beer or two today. I suggeted to him that he was now an Indian, like it or not. His response was: does that mean my P.Eng is invalid and I'm not allowed to work anymore? I pointed out the good side. Since we live in SK, I could be fined for going fishing with him, so I won't skunk him anymore.

Special status for some Canadians is just silly, stupid, dumb. But we have it. Thank you Artie Johnson.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

Around the same time the government was signing treaties giving natives first nation status, they were giving away land claims to European settlers out west.

Should the government violate those agreements as well, .........or just the first nation agreements ?


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## RCB (Jan 11, 2014)

Homestead land grants in the prairies were conditional on a few things. The grantee needed to clear or farm, and have a home up within 5 years, IIRC, or it reverted to the Crown. I have the homestead docs here somewhere.

One of my ancestors was granted land in the Regina area, married into my Metis line.


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## lonewolf (Jun 12, 2012)

Canada needs a very powerful depression with people starving & dying in the streets so their is no extra waist that can go into supporting those that refuse to take responsibility & support themselves.

No one wants to do the right thing & have the same rules for everyone regardless of race. I don't think the courts will ever do the right thing with treating everyone equal its always going to be a problem. This fight will only end in the streets when the masses are hungry & say enough is enough with those getting the special treatment say if we want to live we have to be responsible. 

The old & the weak will be SOL when resources should have been put aside for them instead of being used on those that were capable are not there. Its just not right


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