The Supreme Court of Canada will hear an appeal involving a massive Métis land claim.
The high court has granted the Manitoba Métis Federation leave to appeal lower court rulings that struck down a claim potentially worth billions of dollars.
The federation says the Métis were cheated out of land, including present-day Winnipeg, promised to them after Manitoba joined Confederation in 1870. Some 5,600 square kilometres of land was distributed, but the Métis say the process took too long, some prime land was gobbled up by settlers and Métis were pressured to sell their land after receiving it.
Lower courts have ruled that the Métis lawsuit was filed too long after the land transaction, and have rejected the idea that the federal government failed to live up to its side of the agreement.Federation president David Chartrand says the group doesn't want land now, but instead seeks compensation that could total billions of dollars.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2011/02/10/scoc-metis-appeal.html#ixzz1Da1D7Z9k
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