SOCREDS TO APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT

Native Indians wincourt
decision on treaty rights

SMP UAC GTON Poco

Herblock in the Washington Bost
“Hey, listen—for just a little bit more

we can get a real one.” “

New flag hailed

Cont'd from pg. |

A flag is not an unimportant
thing, a piece of bunting. It is
a mark of a country’s identity, a
Symbol of its sovereignty and in-
dependence, For Canada it is all
the more necessary because it
will be a symbol around which
our two nations can unite in the

. battle to preserve our country’s
independence and win a better life
‘for our people,

Our new flag will not auto-
matically give us these things
but it can help inspire the people
to achieve them, to do something
about “the kind of country it will
fly over,”

This is where Parliament
should now come in, There is a
backlog of major issues and prob-
lems which Canadians are im-
patiently waiting for their MP’s
to discuss and act on: the pro-
jected national labor code, medi-

Soses ses ees ose
Season's Greetings to
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care, the pension plan, automa-
tion, trade, etc,

There are also such major
problems as peace, our country’s
economic future and our consti-
tutional crisis, all of which de-

_mand new national policies, a

new look, by Parliament,

This new look, however, will
not be taken by our MP’s unless,
even as in the case of the flag
debate itself, the people make
their will known, The adoption
of a new flag should be the be-
ginning of a new concerted effort
by the Canadian people to win
new national policies for our
country—policies that will result
in a united, prosperous and in-
dependent Canada in a TORI. at
peace, _

ten mpmereewar |

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HAPPY NEW YEAR

May the Pacific Tribune and all its readers celebrate the

30th Anniversary of the progressive labor press in a peace-

ful world during 1965.

Communist Party of Canada,

B.C. Provincial Committee.

SST HS SE SESE EMS SPST SRE SEEK SESS NO HS BT.

By MAURICE RUSH

As treaty rights of Native

Indians to hunt game on
Crown lands out of season were
upheld last week by a majority
decision of the B,C, Court of
Appeal, The Attorney General’s
department immediately an-
nounced that the decision will be
appealed to the Supreme Court
of Canada, °

The decision of the Appeal
Court last Tuesday supported an

-earlier ruling by Judge Swen-

cisky, who held that Indians are
not bound by the game laws and

_ reversed the conviction of two

Indians, Clifford White and David
Bob of Nanaimo.

The two native Indians had been
convicted by Magistrate Beevor-
Potts in Nanaimo for having pos-
sessed game out of season, The
case has attracted national in-
terest and is considered a major
constitutional issue affecting the
rights of Canadian Indians,

In rendering its decision the
B.C, Court of Appeal split 3-2,

_The majority held that the 1854

agreement with the Hudson’s Bay
Co. was a treaty, They main-
tained that because it was a
treaty the subsequent federal In-
dian Act, which made Indians
subject to provincial game laws,
did not apply to them,

The agreement between the
Indians and the Hudson’s Bay Co,
was made by members of the
Saalequun tribe and Governor
Douglas on Dec. 23, 1854,

Mr. Justice Davey, the pre-
siding judge, said: “In consider-
ing whether the agreement is a
treaty, regard ought to be paid
to the history of our country; its
original occupation and settle-
ment, and the part that the Hud-
son’s Bay Company played in the
settlement and development of
this country,

“In the charter granting Van-
couver Island to Hudson’s Bay
Company, the company was
charged with the settlement and
colonization of that island, That
was Clearly part of the Imperial
policy to head off American
settlement of, and claims to, the

territory, In that sense the Hud-

§ Season's Greetings
to all our friends

High & May
Martin .~
ESD SESE STS SSK SK SK
pF Se ek Sl oe eat es ek se
HASTINGS
EAST
PRESS CLUB

Greetings to our
readers and supporters

Sore ec so 50s as ss eon ok ses NT
SOE SES RS SU SON Sk eK TK se ay

Season's Greetings
to all our friends

SOUTH
VANCOUVER

PRESS CLUB.
ESOL SOS 2k 1a SRN. NES sak

son’s Bay Company was an in-
strument of Imperial policy,”

The majority decision was
made by Justices Davey, Norris
and Sullivan. Mr, Justice Shep-
pard and Mr, Justice Lord dis-
sented, Mr, Sheppard held that
the 1854 agreement between the
Saalequun tribe and Hudson’s Bay
Company “is neither, informnor
in substance, a treaty.”

He said: “The parties to a

treaty would necessarily be the
Crown or an authorized official
and Indians, but the parties to
this transaction are the Hudson’s
Bay Company and the Indians,”

County Court JudgeSwencisky’s
decision, which reversed the con-
viction of the two Indians, said
that in addition to the treaty right,
the Nanaimo Indian tribe had an
aboriginal right to hunt on un-
occupied land, a right which was
confirmed by a Royal Proclama-
tion of 1763,

In handing down the majority

decision for the B,C, Appeal:

Court, Mr, Justice Davey pointed
out that in the charger granting
Vancouver Isiand to the Hudson’s
Bay Company, the company was
charged with the settlment and
colonization of that island,

He said it was also the long-
standing policy of the Imperial

government and the company that ©

the Crown or Hudson’s Bay Com-
pany should buy Indian lands for
settlement by white colonists,

“In pursuance of that policy,
many agreements, some very
formal, others informal, were

New U.S. attack launched
against Communist Party

he U.S, Communist Part)
charged last week that the

' ordering of a second trial of the

party under the McCarren Act
was the result of ‘fa desperate
and malicious act by the Justice
Department,”’

The party described the Jus-
tice Department’s action as ‘‘an
act of Goldwaterism in defiance
of the election mandate,’’ anda
‘cowardly surrender tothe slan-

SOS SOE Sk BE EN BEE OR ELE

Season’s Greetings
to all our
friends and comrades

NIGEL, MONA & DAVE

pone

Best Wishes of the
Holiday Season
to all my friends

Wm. Mozdir ay
PSO 6 6 WES SSS STK HE ER ETS

Greetings to our friends

Sid & Edna
Sheard

JERARA RA RARER

PPcenhal 24, 1964—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page yy

made with various bands and —
tribes of Indians for the purchase
of their lands, These agreements
frequently conferred upon the
grantors hunting rights over the
-unoccupied lands so sold,”

Mr, Justice Davey said under
these circumstances “I cannot
regard the treaty as a mere
agreement for the sale of land
made between a private vendor
and private purchaser,”

He said he hadno doubt Parlia-
ment intended the word “treaty”
in Section 87 of the Indian Act
to include all such agreements,
This being the case, he said,
Section 87 does not extend the
provisions of the Game Act, a
provincial statute, to the Indians
in the exercise of their hunting
rights over the lands in question,

Mr, Justice’ Davey said that it
was the plain policy of the Brit-
ish North America Act to vest
legislative control over Indian
affairs in one central authority,
Parliament, He said that Cana-
da’s Parliament has exclusive
legislative authority” because
they are Indian affairs and involve
rights of hunting and fishing over
the ancient hunting grounds aris-
ing from the agreement by which
they collectively sold their an-
cient lands,

The Social Credit government.
in Victoria has fought the Native
Indian rights issue, and is now
carrying it to the highest court
in the land in Ottawa, where the ~
outcome of the fight will attracts
national attention,

ders and threats of J, Edgar
Hoover and the ultra-Right,’’.

The Justice Department’s mo-
tion for another trial was grant-
ed by a US, District Court judge
in Washington, D.C, and March
15 was set as the trial date over
the protest of Joseph Forer,
attorney for the Communist Par-
ty, who asked for an immediate
trial,

The indictment of the Commun-
ist Party for failure to register
under the Internal Security Act
was issued three years‘ago, The
verdict of the first trial in which
the party was found guilty and
fined ‘120,000 was voided by the
U.S. Court of Appeals Dec, 17,
1963,

Pega era

Happy New Year
Boylan Family

a

SOK BPS SPS BASS Ses Aaa Sos Sse Sorat
Greetings
from
The Blakeys :

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