Page 61 - Alderville First Nation

Harvesting Rights
In the treaties written years ago, we were WORDS TO KNOW
given rights to hunt, trap, gather, and fish pre-Confederation: the period before Confederation
in Canada. Confederation is the name of the event
in our traditional lands. Elders say that the
in 1867 when Ontario, Québec, Nova Scotia, and
treaties have not changed and that these New Brunswick joined together to become a nation;
rights were continuous. later other provinces and territories became part
of Confederation.
As part of the treaty negotiation process, Supreme Court: the highest most important court in
the country
both parties have taken the issue of hunting,
trapping, gathering, and fishing rights to the
courts for a ruling.

In 1984, the Supreme Court ruled against
the Hiawatha First Nation, declaring that the
Williams Treaties extinguished their harvesting
rights flowing from Treaty No. 20. (See page 68
of the Resources section for more information
about numbered treaties.) The Supreme Court’s
judgment was enforced by Ontario against
our First Nation as well. In our opinion, this
right was protected by the Constitution Act
of 1982. As part of the treaty negotiation and
court process, the parties agreed that Williams
Treaties did not extinguish pre-existing treaty
harvesting rights in certain pre-Confederation
treaties. Between 1923 and 2018, the Williams
Treaties First Nations were prevented from
exercising harvesting rights. In 2018, the
Williams Treaties settlement agreement finally
recognized constitutionally protected pre-
Confederation harvesting rights.

In a court case in 2012, Ontario and Canada
finally recognized the pre-Confederation treaty
rights of First Nations who signed the Williams
Treaties to hunt and fish in their traditional
territory without a licence. The fish and wildlife
must be for personal use or for social and
ceremonial use of the community.

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