Powley Day

By Marie-Louise Perron, Knowledge Keeper
Indigenous Initiatives Service, Saint Paul University

Every year on September 19, the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) and Métis communities across the province mark Powley Day. This day honours the end of the decade-long battle by the MNO — together with Steve and Roddy Powley — for recognition of ancestral Métis harvesting rights.

On September 19, 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada issued its unanimous decision in favour of the plaintiffs in the R. v. Powley case.

In this landmark decision, the Supreme Court declared that, as members of the Sault Ste. Marie Métis community, Steve and Roddy Powley had the ancestral right to harvest for food — a right that is protected under section 35 of The Constitution Act, 1982. This is the first court decision to recognize Métis rights as similar to those of First Nations and Inuit Peoples of Canada.

To celebrate this important day, Café Urban will serve a meal featuring Indigenous foods on Tuesday, September 22.

We invite the Saint Paul University community to take the time to reflect and learn about what Steve and Roddy Powley’s action means for the Métis. For more information on the Powley story, please click here.

The decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in the case of R. v. Powley can be accessed here.

Thank you! Marsii/Miigwetch!