Court in Canada rules Metis and non-status Indians are 'Indians'

This is an extremely significant social justice victory. Before getting down to the news story, here is something that I posted on Redbadbear the other day.  It gives a little background/context:

"The term, "half breed," originated with the whites -- almost always in a pejorative sense.  "Treacherous" was a commonly attributed quality. To the Natives, mixed bloods, who appeared almost as soon as the "Conquest" began,  were never seen as "negatives" -- and bona fide socio-cultural commitment was, and still is for the most part,  the major determinant.  The government of the United States has for many decades sought to divide Natives on the basis of "blood quanta" -- usually a minimum of one quarter "Indian blood" is preferred by the Feds --  and some of this has certainly and sadly, taken root in some Native political circles. (Canada has had its own related techniques.)  But almost all Natives continue to see society and culture as the factor -- along with some Native ancestry.  Historically, some whites, captured as children and raised as Indian, have been functionally full members of the tribe."  (H)


Indianz.Com. In Print.
http://www.indianz.com/News/2013/008105.asp 

Court in Canada rules Metis and non-status Indians are 'Indians'
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Filed Under: Canada | Law 
More on: indian act, metis
  
A decision today from the Federal Court of Canada is a landmark victory for Metis people and non-status Indians. 

Judge Michael Phelan determined that Metis and non-status Indians are indeed "Indians" under the Constitution Act of 1867. That means they should be entitled to the rights and benefits as status Indians, including the right to be consulted on decisions that affect their interests. 

"As referred to earlier, Section 91(24) is a race-based power. There is no principled reason to make that race based constitutional jurisdiction more balkanized by emphasis on degrees of kinship nor degrees of cultural purity," Phelan wrote in the 175-page decision. 

Section 91(24) of the Canadian Constitution led to the Indian Act, which historically has been used to separate status Indians from Metis and non-status Indians. More than 600,000 Native people could benefit from provisions of the law as a result of the decision. 

Get the Story:
Federal Court grants rights to Metis, non-status Indians (CBC 1/8) 

Relevant Documents:
Press Release | Decision: In the matter of Harry Daniels v. Her Majesty The Queen 


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HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR] Mi'kmaq /St. Francis 
Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk 
Member, National Writers Union AFL-CIO
www.hunterbear.org 
(much social justice material)

I have always lived and worked in the Borderlands.

See my extensive Movement Life Interview, done by Bruce
Hartford of Civil Rights Movement Veterans:
http://hunterbear.org/HUNTER%20BEAR%20INTERVIEW%20CRMV.htm
And see my reflection ON BEING A MILITANT AND RADICAL
ORGANIZER -- AND AN EFFECTIVE ONE:
http://crmvet.org/comm/hunter1.htm

The Stormy Adoption of an Indian Child [My Father]:
http://hunterbear.org/James%20and%20Salter%20and%20Dad.htm
(Expanded in Fall 2012. Photos. Material on our Native
background.)  And see Personal Background Narrative: 
http://hunterbear.org/narrative.htm  (Updated into 2012) 

For the new (11/2011) and expanded/updated
edition of my "Organizer's Book," JACKSON MISSISSIPPI -- 
with a new and substantial introduction by me.
 http://hunterbear.org/jackson.htm