The Struggle for Recognition: Canadian Justice and the Métis Nation

David R. Hutchinson is a consultant in Saskatchewan’s Indian and
Métis Education Branch.

This comprehensive historical overview details the impact of British
common law on the sociocultural evolution of the Métis Nation.

The text offers insight into traditional Métis community law as
exemplified by the laws of St. Laurent, including “Laws for the
Prairie and for Hunting.” Because the laws essentially functioned to
maintain community, infractions were generally resolved through
arbitration and restitution. More serious or repeat offences were met
with fines or, if necessary, public shaming. All this was to change
significantly, however, with the Hudson’s Bay Company’s (HBC)
purchase of the original Métis homeland. As “owners” of the land,
the HBC considered it financially expedient to institute British
law—in particular, legislation outlawing free trade. As proprietors in
the fur trade, the Métis objected to such restrictions, and many
refused to trade exclusively with the HBC. As a result, many were
charged, thus signaling the supersession of Métis community law and the
construction of Métis people as both economic and political criminals.
It is precisely this construction that manifests itself in the
contemporary experiences of Métis people with the Canadian justice
system.

A second major argument in the text centres on the 1985 lawsuit
initiated by the Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) against the Attorney
General of Canada and the Attorney General of Manitoba. In brief, the
MMF are suing for breach of Section 6 of The Constitution Act of 1871,
which delineates the limited power of the federal government to alter
provincial legislation. The provincial legislation in question is
Sections 31–33 of The Manitoba Act of 1870, which stipulate the
transfer of 1.4 million acres to the Métis people. The MMF claim that
the federal government contradicted the Constitution Act by later
revising legislation that would see the 1.4 million acres dispersed
throughout the province, and distributed by lottery in the form of money
and land scrip.

In essence, this book, calls into question racist legislation that
undermined the development of a strong and prosperous Métis Nation by
eradicating community law and blocking Métis acquisition of a land
base.