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175.More information
By granting subsistence hunting rights in 2003 to the Métis community of Sault Ste. Marie in Ontario, central to the historical francophone space in the Province, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) sent an enormous shock wave through the country. Not only has the ruling nurtured Métis social mobilization and a myriad of court cases, but it has also had a big effect on the Canadian definition of the Métis – which, up to then, only meant those living in the Prairie provinces –, and has shed light on the cultural and migratory phenomena of Canada's historical French realities. Yet, this decision is nothing more than the legal recognition of the last decades of studies on ethnogenesis, a field of fundamental research the main concern of which was to “treat” the “Red River myopia” Métis studies had previously suffered from. Since that ruling, however, one witnesses a turnaround of some concern. Before courts, fundamental research is mostly replaced by a more applied scientific approach that aims at meeting the criteria of the SCC, the so-called “Powley test.” The Métis community of Sault Ste. Marie has somewhat become the gold standard for defining Métis communities, a blurred vision on the diversity of Métis realities and, at the same time, francophone realities. Those are the premises upon which is built the critical stance we shall cast on the recent integration of Métis studies into courts. Our arguments arise, to a great extent, from our experience as an expert witness in the Corneau case in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region in Québec.
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