Author: Peter Vicaire

What Do You Get For Riding a Bicycle, Intoxicated, the Wrong Way Down a One-Way, Busy Downtown Street?

Peter Scott Vicaire1 Comment

A trip to the Supreme Court of Canada!

R. v. Ipeelee seems like an odd case for the Supreme Court to hear, but Justices Binnie, Fish, and Rothstein granted the leave to appeal from the  Court of Appeal for Ontario.  Perhaps a substantial re-visit to Gladue is forthcoming.  Maybe it’s because of the seemingly harsh sentence (30 months imprisonment + 6 months pre-custody).    Who knows?  Regardless, it should be an interesting one to watch.  The Director of Public Prosecutions and the Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto Inc.  were both allowed as interveners.

Continue reading →

Algonquins of Barriere Lake vs Section 74 of the Indian Act

Peter Scott Vicaire

Here’s an interesting and succinct (3:47) video explaining the ongoing struggle of the Algonquins of Barriere Lake to retain their traditional form of government, against the wishes of the Canadian government.

Canadian PM Harper Ordered RCMP and INAC To Gather Intelligence On First Nations Political “Hot Spots”

Peter Scott Vicaire1 Comment

Here’s the original story, as reported by the Media C0-op.  Some of the information is pretty startling.

Internal documents from Indian Affairs and the RCMP show that shortly after forming government in January of 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper had the federal government tighten up on gathering and sharing intelligence on First Nations to anticipate and manage potential First Nation unrest across Canada.

Information obtained by Access to Information requests reveals that almost immediately upon taking power in 2006, the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) was given the lead role to spy on First Nations. The goal was to identify the First Nation leaders, participants and outside supporters of First Nation occupations and protests, and to closely monitor their actions.

Continue reading →

Canadian Forest Products Inc. v. Sam: Forestry Resource Management – Aboriginal Title Dispute at Loggerheads

Peter Scott Vicaire

In Canadian Forest Products Inc. v. Sam, the British Columbia Supreme Court provided a short term solution for two separate forestry/aboriginal title issues.  Ultimately, aboriginal interests won the day, but the injunctions provided and denied by the court are almost certainly only paving the way for future litigation. 

Continue reading →

B.C. Court of Appeal Dismisses Province’s Appeal – Finds It In Breach Of Its Duties To Consult

Peter Scott Vicaire

In West Moberly First Nations v. British Columbia (Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources), the B.C. Court of Appeal (Vancouver) dismissed the appeal by the province from an order declaring it in breach of its duties to consult and accommodate West Moberly First Nations concerning decisions made by government officials at the request of First Coal, a mining company.

Continue reading →

Alberta Court of Appeal Hears Aboriginal Child Welfare Case

Peter Scott Vicaire

In I.W. v. Kasohkowew Child Wellness Society, the Alberta Court of Appeal dismissed the appellents’ (non-Aboriginal foster parents) appeal for guardianship of an aboriginal child from Samson Cree Nation but granted a re-hearing for their application for contact with the child.

Continue reading →

Manitoba Métis Federation’s Motion To State Constitutional Question Denied By SC of Canada

Peter Scott Vicaire

Concerning the leave to appeal, which was granted to the Manitoba Métis Federation on February 10th, 2011, (and has not yet been inscribed for hearing) the Supreme Court of Canada (McLachlin C.J.) has dismissed the Manitoba Métis Federation’s motion to state a constitutional question.  The lower courts  (Court of Queen’s Bench of Manitoba and the Court of Appeal of Manitoba) based their decisions on laches, lack of fiduciary duty, and mootness.  Here’s the dismissal.

Continue reading →

R. v. Quipp: B.C. Court of Appeal Dismisses Appeals of Aboriginal Fishermen

Peter Scott Vicaire

In R. v. Quipp, the British Columbia Court of Appeal upheld convictions entered in 2008 against members of Cheam First Nation and Union Bar First Nation.  The events leading to their convictions occurred in 1999.

Continue reading →

Don’t Wear Moccasins To Nightclubs in Vancouver. And Leave Your Golf Club Home Too.

Peter Scott Vicaire2 Comments

Colleen Mitchell White, an Aboriginal woman, was denied access to “The Roxy,” a popular Vancouver nightclub, because she was wearing moccasins.  She was told by staff that there were no buffalo to hunt inside and that they didn’t “serve people in moccasins.”  The incident was recently re-heard before the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal; the Roxy had already succeeded in having the tribunal throw out the case in March, 2010, but Ms. Mitchell White applied for judicial review to the B.C. Supreme Court, which ordered the tribunal to take another look.

The Roxy accused Ms. Mitchell White of being confrontational with the security staff.  She was also arrested for public drunkenness after the incident.

Here’s the full story, as reported by The Globe and Mail.

If It Walks Like A Geoduck And Talks Like A Geoduck, It Must Not Be An Aboriginal Right To Harvest Geoducks

Peter Scott Vicaire

In Ahousaht Indian Band v. Canada (Attorney General), the British Columbia Court of Appeal overturned a lower court’s (B.C. Supreme Court) decision which had held that Aboriginals’ right to fish and sell fish extended to “all species of fish within the environs of their territories.”  This included “geoducks,” or clams harvested from the ocean floor and which are the largest in British Columbia.  But the B.C. Supreme Court saw it differently.

Continue reading →