The court’s decision

In the Sparrow decision, the Supreme Court of Canada
said that fishing is one of the aboriginal rights protected
under Section 35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982. This
means that any aboriginal person can fish in his/her
band’s traditional fishing waters.

Important legal points

The Sparrow decision established seven important legal

principles:

1. Aboriginal people have the legal right to fish for
food, ceremonial, and societal purposes.

~ This means that you can fish anywhere in B.C.
as long as the fish will be used for food,

ceremonial, or societal (social) purposes.

Note: “Societal purposes” has not yet been
defined by the federal and provincial
governments, or by Canada’s bands and tribal
councils,

2. Aboriginal fishing rights in the province can only
be taken away if the aboriginal people of B.C.
agree to give up their fishing rights.

~ This means that aboriginal fishing rights have
never been taken away by previous Fisheries
Act regulations. Federal and provincial
government fishing regulations are