The Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs have filed an appeal of a BC Supreme Court decision that could have a drastic affect on Aboriginal hunting rights in the province.
The ruling states that modern Aboriginal treaty rights take precedence over the asserted Indigenous rights of neighbouring communities.
Chief Negotiator and President Malii (Glenn Williams) says the decision sets the law back 30 years.
The Gitanyow’s case, filed in 2015, references the treaty signing of Nisga’a treaty signing in 1999, which sees territory that overlaps with that of the Gitanyow.
According to Williams, the decision has also adversely affected moose populations in the province.
Williams claims that the decision would give the government the ability to extinguish the hunting rights of First Nations territories that overlap with nations who have signed treaties.
