Law360 Canada ( May 8, 2017, 7:51 AM EDT) -- Trial of the defendant, DeSautel, for non-resident big game hunting and hunting without a licence contrary to the Wildlife Act. The defendant was an American citizen, a Washington state resident, and a member of the Lakes Tribe of the Colville Confederated Tribes (CCT). The defendant crossed the border into Castlegar, British Columbia and shot a cow-elk for the purpose of obtaining ceremonial meat. The defendant reported the hunt to British Columbia conservation officers and was issued an appearance notice and charged. The defendant submitted he was exercising an aboriginal right to hunt in the traditional territory of his Sinixt ancestors, which extended across the Washington and British Columbia border. The Crown submitted that no Sinixt aboriginal rights ever came into existence in Canada, as any traditional hunting practice straddling the border did not survive the assertion of sovereignty under the 1846 Boundary Treaty. Alternatively, the Crown submitted that the Washington Sinixt, now known as the Lakes Tribe, voluntarily ceased the traditional practice of hunting in the British Columbia portion of Sinixt territory, such that there was insufficient continuity of the practices of the pre-contact group. The Crown submitted that the absence of Sinixt in British Columbia meant there was no aboriginal collective capable of exercising the aboriginal right asserted by the defendant. In the further alternative, the Crown submitted any Sinixt aboriginal right in British Columbia did not survive the enactment of 1896 provincial legislation or s. 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982....