Hunting yes - logging no (Native claims).

• Author: Mitchell, Teresa

Two aboriginal law cases on opposite sides of the country show that the law with regard to aboriginal rights is a work in progress.

In British Columbia, four Metis men were charged with numerous hunting offences under the British Columbia Wildlife Act. They had been hunting deer and moose and admitted that they did not have the necessary hunting permits and gun licences. They claimed that they did not need these permits because they had the right as aboriginals to hunt to provide for their families. Judge Waurynchuk of the British Columbia Provincial Court agreed with them that their aboriginal right to hunt had not been extinguished by the Crown and that they had met the test of showing that hunting was of central significance to them and distinctive to their society. The men were acquitted.

In New Brunswick, a Mi'kmaq Indian was charged with unlawfully possessing timber from Crown lands after...