{"id":47841,"date":"2021-10-02T08:11:41","date_gmt":"2021-10-02T12:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/?p=47841"},"modified":"2021-10-02T08:11:41","modified_gmt":"2021-10-02T12:11:41","slug":"metis-nation-of-ontario-and-metis-nation-of-alberta-successful-in-joint-intervention-before-supreme-court-of-canada-h","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/2021\/10\/02\/metis-nation-of-ontario-and-metis-nation-of-alberta-successful-in-joint-intervention-before-supreme-court-of-canada-h\/","title":{"rendered":"M\u00e9tis Nation of Ontario and M\u00e9tis Nation of Alberta Successful in Joint Intervention before Supreme Court of Canada H"},"content":{"rendered":"

On October 1st, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in City of Toronto v Ontario (Attorney General)<\/em>. This case was about the fairness of a municipal election in one city, but the decision also raised the issue of how Canada\u2019s Constitution is to be interpreted and the role of unwritten constitutional principles in protecting the rights of all Canadian citizens, including the unique rights and interest of Indigenous peoples.<\/p>\n

The M\u00e9tis Nation of Ontario (\u201cMNO\u201d) and M\u00e9tis Nation of Alberta (\u201cMNA\u201d) jointly intervened in the case to protect the unwritten constitutional principle of the honour of the Crown that is owed to Indigenous peoples. While the 5\/4 majority of the Supreme Court held that \u201cunwritten constitutional principles cannot serve as the basis for invalidating legislation,\u201d the majority went on to recognize the unique nature of the honour of the Crown and held the following:<\/p>\n[62]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The unwritten constitutional principle of the honour of the Crown is sui generis<\/em>.\u00a0 As correctly noted in submissions of the interveners the M\u00e9tis Nation of Ontario and the M\u00e9tis Nation of Alberta, the honour of the Crown arises from the assertion of Crown sovereignty over pre-existing Aboriginal societies, and from the unique relationship between the Crown and Indigenous peoples. We need not decide here whether the principle is capable of grounding the constitutional invalidation of legislation, but if it is, it is unique in that regard.<\/p>\n

The dissenting opinion, written by retiring Justice Rosalie Abella, went even farther, noting that \u201cof course, the unwritten constitutional principle of the honour of the Crown has been affirmed by this Court and accorded full legal force.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are pleased the Supreme Court of Canada recognized that not all unwritten constitutional principles can be painted with the same brush. The honour of the Crown is extremely important in advancing reconciliation and its must be given full legal force so M\u00e9tis governments and other Indigenous peoples can rely on the promises governments make to us every day,\u201d said MNA President Audrey Poitras.<\/p>\n

MNO President Margaret Froh added, \u201cOur M\u00e9tis governments are embarking on a new era of rights recognition and nation-to-nation, government-to-government negotiations and relationships with the Crown. The Supreme Court of Canada\u2019s decision makes it clear that Parliament simply passing legislation that does not even consider Indigenous rights or ignores the promises the Crown has made to our governments will not be simply be ignored by the courts.\u201d<\/p>\n

M\u00e9tis lawyer Jason Madden, who represented both the MNA and MNO noted, \u201cThe honour of the Crown, as a constitutional principle, is playing an increasingly important role in the development of Aboriginal law generally as well as moderating the relationship between governments and Indigenous peoples as the national project of reconciliation continues.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are pleased that the entirety of the Supreme Court of Canada recognizes the unique purpose of the honour of the Crown, as a constitutional principle, and that its full legal force has been once again confirmed and protected by the highest court in Canada,\u201d concluded Madden.<\/p>\n

SOURCE – M\u00e9tis Nation of Ontario<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On October 1st, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in City of Toronto v Ontario (Attorney General). This case was about the fairness of a municipal election in one city, but the decision also raised the issue of how Canada\u2019s Constitution is to be interpreted and the role of unwritten constitutional principles in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-provincial"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-21 23:16:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47841"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47842,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47841\/revisions\/47842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}