THUNDER BAY – Lakehead University celebrated the historic Métis victory at the Supreme Court of Canada on Sept. 19, 2003, in Canada v Powley, on Thursday.
Wendy Houston, president of the Thunder Bay and District Métis Council for the Métis Nation of Ontario region, said this is the 21st anniversary of Steve and Roddy Powley case that was won in the Supreme Court for the Métis nation of Ontario citizens and the Métis nation of Canada.
“All the citizens throughout Canada, especially Ontario, have benefited from this decision of the Supreme Court ruling in favour of them," Houston said."
“They were hunters in the Sault Ste Marie area, they were charged. They won that court hearing and then this has become a very important day, September 19.”
Houston said the victory was extremely important for not only citizens in Ontario but all of Canada.
Denise Baxter, Vice Provost Indigenous Initiatives, Lakehead University, said part of Lakehead’s mandate is education.
“Wherever possible, we work with communities throughout the region. And of course, down in Orillia as well," Baxter said. "We really want to make sure that we're providing different opportunities for people to learn about important things, particularly concerning Indigenous peoples at every event.
“Powley Day for us today is one of the opportunities that we have a chance to partner with the Métis Nation of Ontario and the Thunder Bay District chapter,” she said.
Baxter said prior to governments ‘slicing and dicing’ Indigenous Peoples into different groups, they were all people with relation.
“Part of the way that we have healthy discourse is to make sure that we have information that's shared from a variety of different people, a variety of different viewpoints, a variety of different legal opinions and legal cases," Baxter added. "As people are engaging in these conversations with their own First Nations or their own Métis Nations that, they come into this in an educated space.
“I revert back always to my role as an educator and think that this is a really fantastic opportunity as well as all the other things we do, to really help provide multiple different viewpoints and experiences for our participants.”
Baxter said in the month of September, Lakehead University has focused on providing an entire month of opportunities for both the community inside the university and the community surrounding the university.
