26 METIS NA TION Of ONT ARIO Annu A l Repo R t 20122013 Harves TI n G p ol ICY and Cap T a I ns of TH e Hun T T he existence of Metis rights including the right to har vest was affrmed by the Supr eme Court of Canada in the September 2003 R v Powley decision Ontario was the frst jurisdiction in the Metis Homeland to successfully complete negotiations on Metis har vesting An interim agr eement between the Metis Nation of Ontario MNO and the Ontario Ministr y of Natural Resour ces MNR which r ec ognized the MNO s existing har vest car d system was r eached in 2004 The interim agr eement is short and set out in four points The essence of the agr eement is that MNR will apply its Interim Enfor cement Policy IEP to each MNO Har vester s certifcate holder who is har vesting for food within his or her traditional territor y This means that MNO Har vester s certifcate holders engaged in traditional Metis har vest activities will not be char ged unless they ar e in violation of conser vation or safety standar ds The annual har vest is integral to the Metis W ay of Life Since it began issuing Har vester s certifcates in 1995 the MNO s own Har vesting Policy helps to facilitate the annual Metis har vest by allowing MNO citizens to exer cise their right to har vest in a structur ed and r esponsible manner It outlines the MNO s conser vation values the r equir ements for a Har vester s certifcate and the r ole of the Captains of the Hunt in r esponsible comanagement of the har vest Thr oughout 201213 the MNO continued to work collaboratively with the MNR on the implementation of the July 2004 MNOOntario Interim Har vesting Agr eement and other issues r elating to Metis har vesting The work r elating to Metis har vesting included A Captains of the Hunt and knowledge holder workshop to allow MNO and MNR to discuss issues of mutual inter est and concer n particularly with r espect to wildlife management A Captains of the Hunt meeting to discuss matters r elating to the MNO har vest Discussions with MNR r egar ding a Policy Dialogue T able to discuss lands and r esour ces management build cooperative pr ocesses thr ough engagement on policies and pr ograms and allow for r ecipr ocal lear ning opportunities or knowledge forums Completion of the annual MNO Metis Har vester s sur vey which was distributed to all MNO Har vester s certifcate holders H A r v ES t I n G r egion 3 Captain of t he Hunt a ndy l efebvr e cut t ing a moose open at t he m et is Community f est ival held at Camp b ickel l in t he fal l of 2012