Alberta Metis are taking their fight for province-wide hunting and fishing rights to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The Metis Nation of Alberta has filed arguments seeking leave to appeal a lower court ruling that restricts harvesting rights to areas around northern Metis settlements.

The arguments focus on a Supreme Court ruling 10 years ago that granted Ontario Metis hunting rights and how that should be applied to descendants of prairie Metis buffalo hunters.

The Alberta case involves Garry Hirsekorn, who was convicted in 2010 of hunting out of season after he shot a mule deer in 2007 near the Cypress Hills.

The Alberta Court of Appeal upheld his conviction in July, saying there isn’t enough proof that Metis had a historic presence in southern Alberta.

The Metis Nation says buffalo hunters were nomads who moved across the land following the herds and rarely or never returned to established communities.