In Canadian law, NSMA's members' Métis rights are based on the distinctive, integral practices of the Métis people of the Great Slave Lake region prior to the establishment of effective Crown control of that region.” Evidence of practices occurring pre-1920, and particularly evidence from before 1890, is valuable for helping to establish existence of a right.

 

Which Aboriginal rights does NSMA claim?

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NSMA members are Métis people of the Great Slave Lake area of the Northwest Territories with asserted Aboriginal harvesting rights recognized and affirmed under section 35 (1) of the Constitution Act, 1982. The Métis of the Great Slave Lake region trace their origin to the early 18th-century unions of French fur-traders and Indigenous women. Since the 18th-century, the Métis of the Great Slave Lake area have existed as a unique community, distinct from both other Indigenous communities and the settler population. The Métis of the Great Slave Lake area have and continue to exercise Aboriginal harvesting rights across a vast area including all the mainland Northwest Territories as well as parts of Yukon, Nunavut, British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. The North Slave Métis are a unique constituency of the larger Great Slave Lake community who primarily exercise their rights to the north, east, and west of Great Slave Lake.