This week, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear arguments in Daniels v. Canada. The case was initiated by the late Saskatchewan Métis leader Harry Daniels more than a decade ago to make Canada revisit its arbitrary and exclusionary policies toward the Métis and “non-status” Indians (i.e., members of First Nations who cannot be registered under the Indian Act). In the words of the trial judge, these federal policies — or lack thereof — have produced “a large population of collaterally damaged” aboriginal people who are the “most disadvantaged of all Canadian citizens.”
Specifically, the Daniels case will answer the long-standing question of whether the Métis and non-status Indians are included within the meaning of the term “Indian” in s. 91 (24) of the Constitution Act, 1867. This head of power grants “exclusive Legislative Authority” for “Indians, and Lands reserved for the Indians” to Parliament. Canada has taken an extremely narrow interpretation in relation to this jurisdiction, which conveniently excludes the Métis and non-status Indians. This exclusion has resulted in these groups falling between the jurisdictional cracks of this country.
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