Post-Powley

A Métis Hero Passes Away

OTTAWA (February 23, 2004) ---The Métis Nation lost one of its greatest fighters today. At about one thirty this morning Steve Powley died after a long battle with diabetes. He had spent the last few days in a Sault Ste. Marie hospital. Steve was in his fifty sixth year. He is survived by his wife Brenda, his four children, Paul, Evelyn, Roderick and Kimberley and three grand-children, Jerri-Lee, Anthony and Aaron.

In 1992, Steve Powley and his son, Roddy, shot a moose without a license near Sault Ste. Marie in Ontario. The Ontario government prosecuted Steve and Roddy all the way through the courts in Ontario and to the Supreme Court of Canada. There the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed what all Métis knew - that Métis Nation possesses collective aboriginal rights, including the right to harvest.