Judge rules against Metis federation in appeal over Hydro agreement

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/05/2021 (1798 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE province’s decision to axe a $67.5 million payment between Manitoba Hydro and the Manitoba Metis Federation was reasonable, a Manitoba Court of Appeal judge has ruled.

In a ruling May 6, Chief Justice Richard J. Chartier dismissed the Manitoba Metis Federation’s appeal, which sought to overturn a March 2020 court decision that ruled the province was within its rights to cancel a July 2017 agreement between the federation and the power authority.

That deal would have seen the Crown corporation pay millions of dollars to the Métis organization for its support of a number of hydro developments that the federation said infringed on Metis rights.

In its appeal, the federation argued the judge in the March 2018 decision erred in ruling that the principle of “the honour of the Crown” didn’t apply to the spat between the Crown corporation and the Métis. That principle dictates the province act in good faith in its dealing with Indigenous people.

But when that principle was applied, the chief justice ruled the province acted reasonably in its obligation to honour it.

The federation’s latest legal challenge in appeal was based on its initial legal challenge to the Pallister Government’s March 21, 2018, decision to stop Manitoba Hydro from going forward with the agreement made between hydro and the Metis.

In the wake of the ruling, the federation’s president, David Chartrand, said agreements between the provincial government and Indigenous people are just “hollow words.”