Métis in the Upper Great Lakes have a long history of standing up together and collectively fighting to protect their distinct Métis rights and way of life.
Like their Métis ancestor Eustace Lepage, a leader of the Métis who marched on Mica Bay, Steve and Roddy Powley organized to fight not just for their community’s Métis harvesting rights, but for the inherent rights of all Métis people to come after them.
No longer wanting themselves or other Métis to have to hide who they were and their Métis way of life, they purposefully shot a bull moose, put it on top of their truck and drove home, in the daylight, down Queen Street in Sault Ste. Marie—which was not the usual route to their house.
Steve and Roddy Powley were charged by the Ministry of Natural Resources for harvesting without a license and the unlawful possession of a moose.
The Powley case was taken all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, with unanimous rulings in their favour at every level.
Following the Powley victory on behalf of all Métis at the Supreme Court of Canada, acting MNC President Audrey Poitras proudly declared, “to all the Métis people out there. We won! We won!”
When Métis Senator Thelma Chalifoux addressed the Senate shortly thereafter, she took time to speak about great Métis leaders and their accomplishments: Louis Riel and the Manitoba Act; Harry Daniels; and, the Supreme Court decision to allow the Manitoba Land Claim Case to proceed.
About Steve Powley, Senator Chalifoux said:
“Steve Powley now joins the ranks of all these past great Métis leaders in successfully winning the case that our people have the right to hunt and fish. My family no longer has to hide the food it has obtained for our family’s well-being. It is truly a great day. Another battle has been won for the Métis Nation.”
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