Ontario judge rules indigenous peoples not exempt from Fisheries Act – Western Standard

An Ontario judge has ruled indigenous Canadians do not have an automatic treaty right to disturb fish habitat.

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the ruling focused on a clause in the Fisheries Act that has been a subject of long-standing dispute.

“To find the existence of a treaty right, is to bestow upon a particular activity the highest form of recognition and protection available in Canadian law,” wrote Justice Peter Wright of Ontario Provincial Court.

“Such a finding ought to be made on an appropriate evidentiary foundation. A treaty right cannot be inferred out of a simple desire for it to be so.”

On June 17, 2022, Timothy Barnhart from Tyendinaga, ON, was found guilty of violating the Fisheries Act by illegally dumping infill into the Bay of Quinte.