The appellants, Chief and Councillor of the Shawanaga First Nation, were convicted of unlawfully conducting a bingo contrary to the Criminal Code.
They argued that the lottery provisions of the Criminal Code were unconstitutional and that they had a defence of colour of right, mistakenly believing the laws did not apply to their activities on an Indian reserve.
The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal, holding that the constitutional questions were resolved in the companion case of R. v. Furtney, and that the defence of colour of right was unavailable because their mistake was one of law, not fact.
