The Powley Case
Every year on September 19th, the Métis Nation of Ontario and Métis communities across the province mark Powley Day to remember the decade long fight led by the MNO with Steve and Roddy Powley for recognition of Métis harvesting rights in the R. v. Powley case. In its landmark, unanimous decision issued on September 19, 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada declared that Steve and Roddy Powley, as members of the Sault Ste. Marie Métis community, had the Métis right to harvest and that this right is protected under section 35 of The Constitution Act, 1982. This was the first decision from Canada’s highest court that recognized the Métis have “full status as distinctive rights-bearing peoples,” a characteristic they share with First Nations and Inuit peoples of Canada.