SCC decision will have long-term implications: Métis journalist John Lagimodiere

A major Supreme Court decision is being welcomed by Métis people in Saskatchewan, including Saskatoon-based journalist John Lagimodiere.

Lagimodiere, who publishes the Eagle Feather news, was reacting to the high court's decision Thursday that the federal government has a fiduciary responsibility toward Métis people, in the same way it does toward First Nations and Inuit people.

"There's going to be long-running implications here," Lagimodiere said.

 "What's it going to mean to me, day to day? Still yet to be figured out, but it provides clarity," he said. "It'll get the Métis people at the table and start working things out."

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What the ruling will not do, he said, is suddenly confer a list of benefits similar to those First Nations people have — such as federal medical coverage and the right to reserve lands.

"It just clarifies relationships and it just solidifies Métis in that aboriginal part of the constitution, where we were always seen as the weaker third," he said. "Now, we're not."

Lagimodiere said the ruling will be even more significant for Métis people who live outside big cities and have housing and hunting concerns.