"Status Indians Can Continue to Hunt, Fish in Treaty Areas"

TORONTO (CP) - Status Indians who fish and hunt for food in their treaty areas may continue to do so unless they pose a threat to conservation or public safety, the Ontario government said Tuesday.

The interim policy will remain in effect "until it's replaced by negotiated agreements with aboriginal people," Bud Wildman, minister responsible for native affairs, told the legislature.

"The new policy is consistent with the government's commitment to negotiate self-government arrangements with aboriginal people and its commitment to develop co-management agreements on natural resources," he said.

Wildman said the policy is consistent with a Supreme Court of Canada decision last May that said aboriginal rights to fish and hunt for food take priority after conservation and resource management concerns are satisfied.

The issue of hunting by members of the Golden Lake band in Algonquin Provincial Park prompted some outfitters and park guides to criticize the NDP for allowing natives to break conservation laws while continuing to charge non-natives.