R v Castonguay, 2002 NBPC 31

This case was heard in the New Brunswick Provincial Court.

The defendants, Roger Castonguay and François Faucher, were charged with violating s. 67(2) of the Crown Lands and Forests Act by cutting timber on Crown land. Both accuseds claimed that their identities as Métis men gave them an Aboriginal right to cut the timber.

The central issue before the Court was whether the accuseds could lay claim to an Aboriginal right to cut timber based on their asserted Métis identities. The Court relied on the reasoning in R v Powley, 40 CR (5th) 221 (Ont CA), R v Blais, 2001 MBCA 5, and R v Howse, (2002) BCJ No 379 (BCSC), and it held that it was necessary for the accuseds to prove the existence of a Métis community in the area where the incident took place, that that community was the continuation of an historic Métis community, and that they themselves were members of that community with a shared Indigeneous ancestry. The Court held that the accuseds failed to prove those things, and the men were convicted of the charges against them.

View the Decision on CanLII: www.canlii.org/en/nb/nbpc/doc/2002/2002nbpc31/2002nbpc31.html

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