The Supreme Court of Canada (SCOC) will not hear an appeal of a hunting conviction overturned by Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal.
Kristjan Pierone, an Indigenous man from Manitoba, was convicted of unlawful hunting after shooting a bull moose in a slough on private land near Swift Current in September 2015.
Pierone, a Treaty 5 First Nations man hunting on Treaty 4 land, did not have a licence to hunt moose, or permission from the land owner to hunt.
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He argued no signs were posted and it appeared the land had not been cultivated in years.
A prosecutor argued Pierone did not have a right to hunt on Treaty 4 land.
The trial judge dismissed the charge against him, which was overturned and a conviction entered by the summary conviction judge.
The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal said in an April 27 ruling the Crown had failed to prove the land was in use, or incompatible for hunting.
The SCOC dismissed the appeal, with costs, on Thursday without giving reasons.
The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) is pleased with the decision, and said it upholds their treaty rights to hunt and fish.
“The province cannot simply pass laws and take actions which try to undermine those rights,” Cameron said in a statement.
“This decision simply confirms what we’ve been saying for decades: our inherent and treaty rights are paramount and are not bound by provincial laws.”
The Saskatchewan government has not commented on the decision.