R v Castonguay, 2002 CanLII 49690 (NBPC)

This case was heard in the New Brunswick Provincial Court.

The Defendant, Jean-Denis Castonguay, was charged with two counts of possession of timber removed from Crown lands, which is an offence under subsection 67(1)(c) of New Brunswick's Crown Lands and Forest Act.

The issue before the Court was whether the Defendant had an Aboriginal right, protected under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, to harvest timber in the area where he had harvested. Mr. Castonguay asserted that he was Métis and that he had such a right.

The Court found that the historical evidence that Mr. Castonguay presented was not enough to establish an Aboriginal right flowing from his Métis status. The Defendant’s chief evidence had been his membership in the “Soleil Levant Community”, which the court found had only existed since 1999 and was not a continuation of an historic Métis community that had existed historically in the area where the Defendant had obtained the wood. The Court also noted that no evidence had been put forward to demonstrate that the Métis had ever harvested wood in the area where the Defendant had been charged. For these reasons, the Court held that there was no Métis group to which Mr. Castonguay belonged that could claim an Aboriginal right to harvest timber, and the Court found the Defendant guilty of all charges.

View the Decision on CanLII: https://www.canlii.org/en/nb/nbpc/doc/2002/2002canlii49690/2002canlii49690.html

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