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Law

British Columbia High Court Sides With Native American Tribe In Cross-Border Dispute

Rick Desautel of Inchelium, Washington, center, was accused of illegal hunting after he crossed into Canada in 2010 to hunt for elk on the traditional hunting grounds of the Sinixt tribe in Canada.
Emily Schwing
/
Northwest News Network
Rick Desautel of Inchelium, Washington, center, was accused of illegal hunting after he crossed into Canada in 2010 to hunt for elk on the traditional hunting grounds of the Sinixt tribe in Canada.

The Supreme Court of British Columbia has upheld the claims of a Native American man from Washington state that he has the right to hunt in the province.

The long-running case concerned Rick Desautel, a member of the Colville Tribes and a descendant of the Sinixt, an indigenous group which once roamed the Northwest.

In 2010, Desautel crossed the border from Washington to British Columbia and shot an elk without a permit. Desautel argued that the hunt was not illegal because it took place in the traditional hunting grounds of the Sinixt.

But the province argued that those rights ended when the Sinixt were declared extinct in Canada. The last surviving member there passed away in 1956.

The decision effectively recognizes the aboriginal rights of the tribe in British Columbia.

In his decision, British Columbia Supreme Court Judge Robert Sewell wrote that allowing Desautel and other Sinixt members to hunt in the region is “consistent with the objective of reconciliation” established in Canadian civil law.

In March, a provincial court judge sided with Desautel following a nearly year-long trial.  Sewell’s decision rejects an appeal from British Columbia’s provincial government.

The Sinixt people's traditional lands extend north from the Reservation of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville to the Arrow Lakes region in the southern half of British Columbia.

Copyright 2017 Northwest News Network

Emily Schwing
Emily Schwing comes to the Inland Northwest by way of Alaska, where she covered social and environmental issues with an Arctic spin as well as natural resource development, wildlife management and Alaska Native issues for nearly a decade. Her work has been heard on National Public Radio’s programs like “Morning Edition” and “All things Considered.” She has also filed for Public Radio International’s “The World,” American Public Media’s “Marketplace,” and various programs produced by the BBC and the CBC. She has also filed stories for Scientific American, Al Jazeera America and Arctic Deeply.