XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ab.politics   
   XPost: sk.politics, man.politics, mtl.general   
   From: Panca@nyet.ca   
      
   Holy bloody hell.  We're all (except natives) going to have to start paying 15%   
   GST if the courts go along with this demand.   
   _____________________________________   
   The Canadian Press Posted: Nov 20, 2014   
      
   Supreme Court to hear landmark case for off-reserve aboriginals   
      
      
   The question of whether the country's Métis and non-status Indians have a   
   right   
   to the same programs and services as First Nations and Inuit has fallen to the   
   Supreme Court of Canada.   
      
   The eventual outcome of the case could vastly extend the federal government's   
   responsibilities to hundreds of thousands of Aboriginal People.   
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   Or it could overturn a historic victory.   
      
         Federal Court grants rights to Métis, non-status Indians   
      
   On Thursday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear appeals from both sides in a case   
   started 15 years ago by Métis leader Harry Daniels. As usual, the court did   
   not   
   give reasons for its decision to hear the case.   
      
   The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, along with several Métis and non-status   
   Indians, took the federal government to court in 1999, alleging discrimination   
   because they were not considered "Indians" under a section of the Constitution   
   Act and thus have been denied certain benefits.   
      
   Both the Métis and non-status Indians scored a major win last year when the   
   Federal Court recognized them as "Indians" under the Constitution.  The federal   
   government appealed that ruling.   
      
   Earlier this year, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld part of the decision.  It   
   ruled that while Métis should remain Indians under the Constitution, extending   
   that recognition to non-status Indians should be done on a case-by-case basis,   
   since it is a separate issue.   
      
   Both sides appealed   
      
   The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples — which represents both non-status Indians   
   and Métis — appealed that ruling.   
      
   Betty Ann Lavallee, national chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, says   
   the Supreme Court's decision to hear the appeal is an important step in   
   resolving the status of off-reserve aboriginals.   
      
   So did the federal government. It claims both lower courts were wrong to extend   
   Indian status to the Métis — while also arguing the appeals court got it   
   right   
   when it ruled non-status Indians as a whole should not constitutionally be   
   considered Indians.   
      
   The head of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples welcomed the Supreme Court's   
   decision to hear the appeals.   
      
   "This is an important step in the long struggle begun by my predecessor as   
   national chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, Harry Daniels," National   
   Chief Betty Ann Lavallee said in a statement.   
      
   "The decision of the Court of Appeal was flawed in our view, as it drew an   
   unhelpful distinction between the federal government's responsibility for   
   non-status Indians and its responsibilities toward Métis peoples and status   
   Indians."   
      
   The Supreme Court also gave the Métis National Council, which is a intervener   
   to the case, more time to file its own response to both appeals.   
      
   The council wanted the federal government to drop its appeal and start working   
   out an agreement with the Métis people.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)