Canada's Supreme Court has ruled that more than 600,000 aboriginal people previously denied special legal status by the federal government should receive it, granting potential access to benefits and services.
The court on Thursday declared Metis people - those of mixed aboriginal and European descent - and aboriginal people not registered with the government "Indians" under the Constitution Act of 1867.
The ruling may give them access to some of the same rights and benefits as aboriginal people living on reserves, such as tax breaks and assistance for medication, housing and education.
The case began in 1999, with the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples and one Metis and two non-status Indians as plaintiffs.
A lower court had initially ruled in the plaintiffs' favour, but the government raised the case to the Federal Court of Appeal, which upheld the previous ruling on Metis, but not unregistered aboriginals, known as "non-status Indians".
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According to federal data, the Canadian government spent $C8.1 billion ($A8.3 billion) from 2014 to 2015 on funding for the roughly 700,000 status Indians.
There are more than 400,000 Metis and 200,000 non-status Indians.
