Thanks to a single court decision, the federal government’s responsibilities for Canada’s aboriginal peoples have suddenly become a whole lot larger.

After more than 13 years of legal wrangling, the Federal Court ruled on Tuesday that Metis and non-status Indians are indeed “Indians” under a section of the Constitution Act, and fall under federal jurisdiction.

The decision adds to the mounting pressure on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to rethink the way Canada deals with native populations, who are among the most impoverished in Canada.

The ruling helps to clarify the relationship between Ottawa and the more than 600,000 aboriginal people who are not affiliated with specific reserves and have essentially no access to First Nations programs, services and rights.

“This is huge and it ends the denial of aboriginal birthrights that has existed for far too long among off reserve Metis and non-status Indians,” said Betty Ann Lavallee, national chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples. “Today is a very emotional day for me and a very hopeful day for all off-reserve aboriginal people.”

In British Columbia, the decision is expected to impact thousands of non-status aboriginals and Metis people, said Lillian George, B.C. president of the United Native Nations Society, which represents status, non-status and Metis people.

The society represents about 60,000 aboriginals in B.C., of which 40 per cent are non-status and about 23,000 Metis who are not affiliated with the Metis Nation of B.C., which represents the majority of Metis in B.C.

According to the 2006 census, 196,075 British Columbians identified themselves as aboriginal. Nationwide that figure was 1,172,790 but only 564,870 people reported they were Registered Indians.

“It’s a major step. We’ll have a lot of excited Metis people across Canada and B.C. finally getting recognition they are identified as Indian,” said Dumont.

Vancouver Metis Leonard Laboucan said while his family has survived for generations without financial support from the government, he hopes the future will be easier for his three-year-old son Kyell.

“Certainly there are tax breaks (for Indians) but you have to live and work on reserve. And also there’s never enough education dollars to go around. My hope is more money will become available,” he said.

United Native Nations’ George said she also hopes the decision will force the federal government to look at its funding of all aboriginals across Canada.

She said in her own case, although she is a status Indian, she does not receive financial support from her band because it simply doesn’t get enough money to help support the status members who live off reserve.

“There’s a mindset of non-aboriginals who believe we get everything for nothing because we have a status card. I bought my house. I pay land taxes. If the government was handing out free money I missed the memo because I didn’t get mine ... maybe now the federal government will have to look at their funding for all aboriginals. We want what rightfully belongs to us,” she said.

“Immigrants coming into Canada get treated better and get more benefits than aboriginal people get.”