Métis lose land claim court case
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/07/2010 (5861 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Manitoba’s highest court today dismissed a Métis land claim case that they’d been cheated out of 1.4-million acres of land over 100 years ago.
The 250-page decision was released this morning by the Manitoba Court of Appeal.
The top court’s decision upholds a 2007 lower court decision that the Métis who lived in Manitoba in the late 1800s were not Indians and had no treaty rights.
The case began 26 years ago when Manitoba’s Métis began to argue that a huge stretch of land – including the city of Winnipeg and strips on both sides of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers — rightfully belongs to them.
The case, launched in 1981 by the Manitoba Métis Federation and 17 families, claimed the Métis were entitled to 1.4-million acres of land.
The Métis did not seek to reclaim the land, but asked for a ruling that would allow for a financial settlement.
Three years ago Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Alan MacInnes ruled the Métis were flawed in claiming they were a collective group.
"At the relevant time, the Métis did not live in a communal or collective setting. True, they lived more or less together in parishes, the common connection being religion, language and culture. But they held land on an individual basis and were able to and did sell, buy and otherwise deal with their land as did as any other individual, but Indians," MacInnes wrote in a 395-page decision.
The Manitoba Métis Federation will hold a news conference today to discuss their reaction to the appeal court’s decision.