Proving Ethnicity: Aboriginal Rights and Administrative Process

Members of Canada's First Nations have, if they can satisfy the significant evidentiary thresholds, potentially broad rights to engage in traditional practices such as hunting and fishing. At issue in L=Hirondelle v Alberta (Sustainable Resource Development), 2013 ABCA 12 was the administrative structure erected by the province of Alberta to regulate the issuing of fishing licences to members of First Nations. In particular, the provincial government's policy provides that recognition as a member of a First Nation does not automatically entitle an individual to exercise the aboriginal rights protected by s. 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982.