The new hunting and fishing agreement between the province and the Metis people does not grant them the right to harvest wildlife year-round. That right always existed, but it has taken governments and courts this long to acknowledge it.
That’s the explanation from Alberta Aboriginal Affairs spokesman Eoin (pronounced ‘Owen’) Kenny. What the ‘Interim Harvesting Agreement’ does is “put a frame around” the right that was confirmed in 2003 by the supreme court in the Powley case in Ontario.
That ‘frame’ is a good thing for Alberta and its wildlife, Kenny says, because it offers some assurance that the year-round Metis hunting won’t be “a free-for-all,” that could damage the resource.
That’s the government view. There are others.
Alberta outdoorsman T.J. Schwanky told The Leader last week that although he doesn’t dispute the supreme court decision, its application is definitely a concern.
“They’re giving these rights to a lot of people who don’t need them,” he says, indicating numbers of urban Metis people who have “no connection to the land.
“I don’t think it (the decision) applies to them at all.”
Schwanky thinks it does put fish and wildlife at risk in Alberta, and urges concerned Albertans to let their political representatives know about it.
One who’s doing that is outfitter Don Lind of High Prairie. In a letter to Lesser Slave MLA Pearl Calahasen, Lind expressed his concern that the Metis harvest agreement was negotiated without input from the Alberta Fish & Game Association. He suggested that the agreement has “no conservation or management practices.”
Kenny says it’s important to keep in mind that the right exists and there’s nothing Alberta could do about it even if it wanted to. After the Powley case, he says, if Alberta Metis people had wanted to they could have shouldered their rifles and gone off hunting with no agreement whatsoever with the province. This is more or less the case in Ontario and Saskatchewan, he says, where the government has stood back and said, ‘go ahead and hunt in the north.’ In Alberta, Metis leadership agreed to ask its members to hold off until the province and the two Metis governing bodies could come up with something both could live with. That the Metis agreed to do that is a good thing, he says, and evidence they care about conservation. The harvest agreement does not create rights, he says; it merely puts them in a framework.
“There’s a commitment to conservation and safety,” he says.
Metis Nation of Alberta Vice President Trevor Gladue also thinks the agreement is a good thing. And he certainly doesn’t expect widespread abuse.
“We have to follow conservation rules for species that are endangered,” he says. “We have to follow the Firearms Act.”
Gladue points out that the agreement does not give Metis the right to hunt for commercial purposes; only for sustenance. And he doesn’t expect an increase in hunters because of it.
How about an increase in Metis members?
“You can’t just walk in and get a Metis card,” he says. “It’s very stringent.”
Gladue says the membership requirements have been considerably toughened up recently. Not only do you have to be able to show who you are, but you also must be able to demonstrate a connection to a Metis community and have community acceptance.
The harvest agreement is subject to review and change. Kenny says the Sustainable Resource Development department will be monitoring how it goes. Meanwhile, abuse is abuse and he encourages anybody who sees it to report it.
But he says, “I don’t think the situation is as dire as some people are making out.”

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