Accused Métis hunter takes stand

Medicine Hat News
May 8, 2009

http://www.medicinehatnews.com/content/view/98223/27/

Accused Métis hunter takes stand

ALEX MCCUAIG

One of the three men accused of breaching hunting regulations as part of an effort to establish Métis hunting rights in southern Alberta took the stand in his own defence Thursday.


Ron Jones told the court of the hunting expedition north of Brooks in January 2008. He described it as part of a Métis action plan after the disillusionment with the aboriginal group’s Interim Harvesting Agreement with the Province of Alberta.


Jones told the court the hunt in January 2008 was to provide food for a feast with the remainder of the meat given to a single father.


The province’s lawyer, Tomas Rothwell, asked Jones if he thought his rights were being assaulted, If his rights to learn or educate his children in another language were being challenged, and if the disillusionment with the Interim Harvesting Agreement actually took away his rights.


“If you can take away one, you can take away the rest,” Jones responded.


Rothwell then produced a copy of the Edmonton Journal from Feb. 17, 2008 which documented the hunt in an article titled Launching the Western Rebellion. That article stated that he had never hunted in the area and showed a picture of him discussing his plans to notify conservation officers once he has taken an animal.


“Where you shot the antelope was actually quite close to CFB Suffield?” asked Rothwell.


“The (CFB Suffield) fence was about a half mile away,” answered Jones who worked in the area and on the base with Alberta Energy Company.


At the end of the cross-examination, Judge Ted Fisher asked Jones, “Did you have the belief, before or after, (conservation officers) would allow you to keep that animal?”


“I wouldn’t have bet on it,” responded Jones.


Jeannette Hansen, director of the Miywasin Society – an aboriginal friendship centre in Medicine Hat – told the court of her formative years in the city.She testified that her mother had denied her own Métis status due to experiences in a residential school.