[1999] 1 S.C.R.         R. v. Sundown 393
 Her Majesty The Queen Appellant
 v.
 John Sundown Respondent
 and
 The Attorney General of Quebec,
the Attorney General of Manitoba and
the Attorney General for Alberta Interveners
 Indexed as: R. v. Sundown
File No.: 26161.
1998: November 3; 1999: March 25.
Present: Lamer C.J. and L'Heureux-Dubé, Cory, McLachlin, Iacobucci, Bastarache and
Binnie JJ.
ON APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF APPEAL FOR SASKATCHEWAN
Indians -- Treaty rights -- Right to hunt and fish -- Treaty Indian constructing log cabin in
provincial park -- Park regulations prohibiting construction of dwelling on park land
without permission -- Whether cabin reasonably incidental to hunting and fishing rights --
If so, whether regulations infringe upon hunting rights --Parks Regulations, 1991, R.R.S.
c. P-1.1, Reg. 6, s. 41(2)(j) -- Treaty No. 6 -- Natural Resources Transfer Agreement,
para. 12 -- Indian Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. I-5, s. 88.
The respondent, a member of a Cree First Nation that is a party to Treaty 6, cut down
some trees in a provincial park and used them to build a log cabin. The provincial Parks
Regulations prohibit the construction of a temporary or permanent dwelling on park land
without permission. Pursuant to the provisions of Treaty 6, the respondent is entitled to
hunt for food on land that is occupied by the provincial Crown, including the provincial
park. He testified that he needed the cabin while hunting, both for shelter and as a place
to smoke fish and meat and to skin pelts. Evidence was presented at trial of a long-
standing band practice to conduct "expeditionary" hunts in the area now included within
the park. In order to carry out these hunts shelters were built at the hunting sites. The
shelters were originally moss-covered lean-tos, and later tents and log cabins. In 1930,
the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement between the province of Saskatchewan and
the federal government modified Treaty 6 by extinguishing the treaty right to hunt
commercially but expanding the geographical areas in which Indians have the treaty right
to hunt for food. The respondent was convicted of building a permanent dwelling on park
land without permission. The summary conviction appeal court quashed the conviction,
and the Court of Appeal affirmed that decision.
Held: The appeal should be dismissed.
A hunting cabin is reasonably incidental to this First Nation's right to hunt in their
traditional expeditionary style. This method of hunting is not only traditional but
appropriate and shelter is an important component of it. A reasonable person apprised of