[1990] 1 S.C.R.         r. v. horseman 901
 Bert Horseman Appellant
 v.
 Her Majesty The Queen Respondent
 and
 The Attorney General of Manitoba and
the Attorney General for Saskatchewan Interveners
 indexed as: r. v. horseman
File No.: 20582.
1989: November 27; 1990: May 3.
Present: Dickson C.J. and Lamer, Wilson, La Forest, L'Heureux-Dubé, Gonthier and
Cory JJ.
ON APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF APPEAL FOR ALBERTA
Indians -- Hunting rights -- Treaty Indian killing bear in self-defence and later selling
hide -- Alberta Wildlife Act prohibiting trafficking in wildlife without a licence --
Whether prohibition applies to Treaty 8 Indians -- Whether Treaty 8 hunting rights
limited by 1930 Natural Resources Transfer Agreement -- Wildlife Act, R.S.A. 1980, c.
W-9, ss. 18, 42 -- Treaty No. 8 -- Natural Resources Transfer Agreement, 1930, para. 12.
Appellant, a Treaty 8 Indian, killed a grizzly bear in self-defence while hunting moose for
food. He did not have at the time a licence under the Alberta Wildlife Act to hunt grizzly
bears or sell their hides. A year later, in need of money to support his family, he
purchased a grizzly bear hunting licence and sold the grizzly hide. This was an isolated
act and not part of any planned commercial activity. Appellant was charged with
unlawfully trafficking in wildlife, contrary to s. 42 of the Wildlife Act. At trial, he argued
that the Act did not apply to him and that he was within his Treaty 8 rights when he sold
the bear hide. This treaty secured the Indians' right "to pursue their usual vocations of
hunting, trapping and fishing . . . subject to such regulations as [might] from time to time
be made by the Government of the country". The trial judge found that the appellant's
Treaty 8 hunting rights included the right to barter and acquitted him. The summary
conviction appeal court set aside the acquittal and convicted the appellant. The court held
that the Alberta Natural Resources Transfer Agreement of 1930 had limited the Treaty 8
hunting rights to a right to hunt only for food. The Court of Appeal upheld the decision.
Held (Dickson C.J. and Wilson and L'Heureux-Dubé JJ. dissenting): The appeal should
be dismissed.
Per Lamer, La Forest, Gonthier and Cory JJ.: Section 42 of the Alberta Wildlife Act is a
provincial law of general application which is applicable to Indians pursuant to s. 88 of
the Indian Act so long as it does not conflict with a treaty right. The hunting rights
reserved to the Indians in 1899 by Treaty No. 8 included hunting for commercial
purposes, but these rights were subject to governmental regulation and have been limited
to the right to hunt for food only -- that is to say, for sustenance for the individual Indian