Miles Morrisseau
ICT
Citizens of the Métis Nation of Alberta overwhelmingly voted to adopt a new constitution, the largest ratification for Indigenous people in Canadian history.
The newly ratified Otipemisiwak Métis Government Constitution provides the MNA with greater self-governance under a nation-to-nation relationship with the Canadian government.
The constitution was approved by nearly 97 percent of the 15,729 citizens who cast ballots in the month-long election process.
“I’m very excited about it,” MNA President Audrey Poitras told ICT. “I think it really gives a very clear mandate to the Métis Nation to continue moving forward. We spent a lot of time building our communities prior. And I am very happy with it.
“I’m pleased with the number of people that showed up, as well as the overwhelming majority that supported continuing to go forward,” Poitras said.
The Métis Nation of Alberta was established in 1928 and is one of the oldest Indigenous representative organizations in Canada and according to its website has more than 56,000 registered members.
Poitras said officials made every effort to reach as many voters as possible.
“We heard very clearly from our citizens that they wanted to have ways to ensure that as many people as possible can vote,” Poitras said. “Some of our elderly people in our smaller communities said we need to have ballot boxes. Our young people said, let’s use a modern method. Let’s use all those kinds of things. And then we did mail-in. Every citizen got a mail-in ballot sent out to them, so they could just stay home, answer it, throw it in the mail, and it would be counted.”
Defining Métis
Marilyn Dumont is an award winning poet (“That Tongued Belonging”) and an associate professor at the Faculty of Native Studies, University of Alberta, and is distant relative of famed Métis hero Gabriel Dumont, who was the muscle behind Louis Riel’s vision.
She said her family have been in Alberta since 1790 and since then have helped develop a collective voice through organizing at a grassroots level. She said she can recall stories of people hitchhiking and sleeping under bridges in their efforts to help build the tribal community into what is now the Métis Association.
“Now we have a constitutional document which will evolve with the people,” Dumont stated in an email message to ICT. “Criticism of the constitution are ways for the document to evolve because nothing is perfect. I would imagine that a good analogy is an act of writing itself: Writing is rewriting.”
The new constitution also includes a formal definition of citizenship.
“We have our Métis definition incorporated into our Constitution,” Poitras said. “And I think you know how long that took for people to come up with a definition by our people, of our people, and that’s in place.”
According to the new constitution, “Métis means an individual who self-identifies as Métis, is distinct from other Indigenous peoples (for cultural and nationhood purposes), is of Historic Métis Nation ancestry and is accepted by the Métis Nation.”
Poitras says the definition of who is a Métis citizen is not restrictive as the Nation continues to grow. “We have over 56,000 citizens registered now, they will all be moved into the new model. And so that’s already taken care of. But that will be a huge part of it. We have citizens coming in constantly, our numbers are rising every month here. So that will keep going forward. Of course, it is about us, as Métis citizens.”
The Canadian government’s Office of the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations praised the vote.
“The Otipemisiwak Métis Government Constitution is an important step as the Métis Nation of Alberta determines its path to self-determination,” according to a written statement from the government office to ICT.
“Indigenous constitutions are an internal matter between the respective Indigenous government and their citizens.”
History of the Métis
The Métis Nation of western Canada are a distinct Indigenous peoples with a history, culture and flag that existed long before Canada became a country. It was the Métis Nation, under the leadership of Louis Riel, that defeated the Canadian incursion into the west at Red River leading to the Manitoba Act, which created the province and is a part of the Canadian constitution.
It was Riel and the Métis along with the Cree led by Big Bear who fought the last armed resistance to westward expansion at the Battle of Batoche in 1885. Riel was hanged for treason.
The MNA operates within the province of Alberta under the Societies Act but will gain additional recognition with the new constitution.
In June 2019, the Government of Canada signed a self-government agreement with the MNA, the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan and the Métis Nation of Ontario.
“These agreements recognized that each of these Métis governments represent a Métis collective that holds an inherent right to self-government protected by s. 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982,” said the statement from the federal government. “Canada does not have a role in developing or approving Indigenous constitutions. The Government of Canada will continue working with all Métis partners to advance their visions of self-determination, promote reconciliation and build renewed government-to-government relationships.”
In 1982, the Canadian constitution was repatriated from England which held the country’s founding documents as the British North America Act. At that time amendments were made including the affirming rights of Indigenous peoples. Métis Aboriginal rights were recognized and affirmed along with First Nations and Inuit in the repatriated Canadian constitution. In the years since Métis rights were recognized, many people began to claim that identity and began to organize, some far across the country with little Métis or First Nations ancestry and some even with Inuit ancestry.
Métis victories in court
As Métis people continue to gain access to similar services provided to First Nations and Inuit peoples it has coincided with numerous Supreme Court of Canada victories.
The Powley Decision in 2003 affirmed that Métis people have harvesting rights. The Daniels Decision in 2016 affirmed that the federal government has the same fiduciary responsibility to the Métis as it does to the First Nations and Inuit.
Land remains the largest outstanding issue for Métis Nation and Canada. Despite 1.4 million acres of land promised to the Métis Nation in the Manitoba Act in 1870, which is part of the Canadian constitution, none of that land has been settled to date. The only Métis land in Canada is the Métis Settlements in northern Alberta which were first negotiated with the province in 1930. The settlements have their own unique relationship and agreements with the province and the federal government.
Jean Telliet is senior counsel with Pape Salter Teillet LLP and was lead counsel in the Powley case and author of the award winning Métis history “The Northwest is our Mother.” She is a distant relation to Riel.
“The MNA constitutional vote is a continuation of a long history of Métis regional governance,” Telliet stated in an email message. “I do not believe it damages the Métis Nation. If all the regions had self-government agreements and more jurisdiction then the component parts of the MNC would be stronger and together they could form a stronger federation.”
However, Telliet said the constitution does not address land claims, which would be another question.
“Note that the agreement is with the Federal government and the newly adopted MNA constitution functions within that agreement,” stated Telliet. “Whether the province would engage in land claims with the MNA is highly unlikely, in my opinion”.
Looking ahead
A transition group was established at the last annual general assembly and will work with Métis communities across the province. “We wanted to make sure that everything that people have worked hard on and built up to this point would never get lost. So we put that transition committee in place, which will start its job immediately to work with regions and locals to make sure that we have everything and we know what everybody’s doing.”
According to the newly ratified constitution the first step will be negotiating a new relationship with Canada that they are calling a modern-day treaty. “We seek to negotiate a modern-day treaty with rights to self-determination and self-government as well as our jurisdiction as a distinct order of Indigenous government within the Canadian federation.”
*Correction: Marilyn Dumont, an award-winning poet and associate professor at the Faculty of Native Studies, University of Alberta, is a distant relative of famed Métis hero Gabriel Dumont. Her familial connection to him was incorrect in an earlier version of the story.
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