Old and Difficult Grievances: Examining the Relationship Between the Métis and the Crown

The inclusion of section 35 in the Constitution Act, 1982 was intended to address the old and difficult grievances of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada. In particular, it was meant to fundamentally change the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Crown. Since 1982, the Supreme Court of Canada has, in a series of more than 35 cases, set out the principles governing the relationship between the Aboriginal peoples of Canada and the Crown. In R. v. Powley, the Court applied those principles to the Métis. The paper examines the historical relationship between the Crown and the Métis and in particular looks to what has been happening post-Powley. Historically, the difficulty has always been that the Crown deals with the Métis as individuals and has refused to deal with the m as a people. In the contemporary context the issue is how the Crown is to implement a relationship with a people it has long denied and no longer knows. The paper looks to the issues of consultation and accommodation and how these can be carried out for the Métis. The conclusion of this paper is that despite 1982, more than 20 years of Supreme Court of Canada rulings and Powley, the Crown continues to ignore Métis collectives with the result that there is little to no progress in the reconciliation of the old and difficult grievances of the Métis