What Side Do You Come From? Borders in R v Desautel

• Author: Robin Parker
• Profession: BA (Toronto), LLB (Dalhousie)
• Pages: 213-224

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What Side Do You Come From?

Borders in R v Desautel

ROBIN PARKER*

A. INTRODUCTION

Like any good hunters, Richard and Linda Desautel set out early from

the camp in their traditional Sinixt territory in the West Kootenays. By

the time they reached their hunting ground on the steep hillsides near

Valhalla Provincial Park, the fog had started to lift, but it was cold, and the

ground was slick with frost. Just before  a.m., Richard Desautel shot and

killed a large cow elk he spotted below them on the embankment. He and

his wife dressed the elk, returned to camp and hung the meat. en, they

got in their truck and drove until they found good cell reception. Desautel

called the British Columbia conservation oce, reported what he had

done, and provided directions to the camp. Still, it took the wardens a few

days to nd him. When they did, they charged Desautel with hunting

* Robin Parker, BA (Toronto), LLB (Dalhousie), MSt (International Human Rights

Law) (Oxon) (Dist), practises criminal, public, and Aboriginal law in Ontario and

the Northwest Territories. ank you to Professor Rob Currie for his mentorship

with this article.

 Anna V. Smith, “How an Arrow Lakes Elk Hunt Became a Case of Tribal Rec-

ognition” High Country News ( October ), online: www.hcn.org/issues/./

indigenous-aairs-a-hunt-for-tribal-recognition-at-the-us-canada-border-sinixt-

desautel.

 Adrian Humphreys, “Rights Beyond Borders: Big Questions Were Triggered

When an Indigenous American Shot an Elk in Canada” National Post ( May )