Coast Salish Territory/West Vancouver, BC – The First Nations Summit welcomes the Supreme Court of Canada’s unanimous decision today, in Sappier and Gray v. The Queen, to dismiss the Crown’s appeal to convict two men from the Maliseet Nation and one from the Mi’kmaq Nation for harvesting wood in their traditional territories. In doing so, the Court cited their Aboriginal right to harvest wood for domestic use.
“This most recent judgment is consistent with previous Aboriginal rights cases that confirm Aboriginal peoples have an inalienable right to harvest natural resources in their traditional territories whenever this is shown to be part of their distinctive cultures,” said Grand Chief Ed John, executive member of the First Nations Summit.