Motions dismissed. Canada has entered into a recent agreement with the Métis Nation of Ontario that brings closer the recognition of it as a government entity. However, this agreement does not retroactively apply to a past decision on membership, nor does the agreement subject it to public law remedies while it was still considered a private law entity.
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The applicant asks for a review of a decision that quashed his application for judicial review. In 2017, he was denied membership in the Métis Nation of Ontario [“MNO”]. He sought judicial review of that decision. The motion judge determined that MNO is a private voluntary organization incorporated without share capital under the Corporations Act. While MNO aspires to be recognized as a government with public law responsibilities to its citizens in Ontario, “that objective has not yet been achieved.”
The motion for fresh evidence concerns the Métis Government Recognition and Self-Government Agreement between MNO and Canada [“2019 Agreement”] that did not exist at the time of the hearing that quashed his application for judicial review. Parties are in agreement that admitting fresh evidence on appeals applies to this motion (Palmer v R, [1980] 1 SCR 759). But because this agreement did not exist at the time of the 2017 hearing, the only question is whether the 2019 Agreement would have likely affected that result.
For the 2019 Agreement to have affected the result, either: 1) it must be seen as confirming that in 2017 MNO was already a government; or 2) the entry into the 2019 Agreement must be seen to have made a change to the status of MNO that retroactively applies to the impugned decision. Neither argument can succeed. The fact that MNO was closer to being a government, but had still not yet arrived at formal recognition could not have affected that outcome. If, on the other hand, the 2019 Agreement made a substantial change in 2019 such that MNO is now a government, there is still not basis that the 2019 Agreement has a retroactive effect on the 2017 decision concerning the applicant.
It is inconsistent for the court to find that MNO is subject to the burden of judicial review under the public law as it if were already a government, while MNO is denied the benefits of governmental recognition under Canadian law. It would be invasive and disrespectful for the public law to subject the MNO to judicial review as if it were a government while at the same time denying recognition of such status.