The way to read yesterday’s decision by Federal Court Judge Michael Phelan—if you want to get a feel for his ruling that the federal government must extend legal recognition as “Indians” to Métis and so-called “non-status Indians”—is out loud.

I suspect many Canadians would stumble, at least on the last word, trying to recite, for instance, this passage: “As said earlier, the factor which distinguishes both non-status Indians and Métis from the rest of Canadians (and has done so when this country was less culturally and ethnicly diverse) is that native heritage—their ‘Indianess’.”

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