OTTAWA (November 2, 2005) -- The Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) and the Ottawa Métis Council is hosting traditional moose dinners for the 265 Kashechewan residents who are being housed in Ottawa. MNO citizens in Ottawa are preparing the traditional meals consisting of bannock, wild rice and moose meat for dinners they are hosting for the next three consecutive Thursdays, beginning this week on November 3rd, 2005. In addition, at the request of the Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre in Sudbury, a MNO citizen has harvested a moose for food for the residents of Kashechewan who have been relocated there.

Tony Belcourt, President of the MNO, stated: "We are acutely aware of how unsettling this must be for the people of Kashechewan who have been forced to leave their homes for an unknown period of time. We are going to try to do everything that we can to make them feel at home by ensuring that they will have at least some of our traditional foods made available to them during their stay. And, of course at events like these, the feast will also be accompanied by our music, both with the drum and with the fiddle."

The commitment to assist Kashechewan residents was made in a meeting last week between Ontario Premier, Dalton McGuinty, the Chiefs of Ontario (COO), and the MNO, when Gary Lipinski, Chair of the Provisional Council of the Métis Nation of Ontario, committed to the COO that the MNO will support the residents of Kashechewan Reserve to the very best of our ability. Belcourt concluded: "This is the custom of the Métis and First Nations people; we unite in brotherhood in times of need, and we are extremely honoured to be able to help in this small way."

The time and location of the next dinner is as follows:

Date: Thursday November 17, 2005
Time: 6:00pm
Location: Richilieu Hall, 130 Peres-de-Blanc, Vanier, ON


The Métis are a distinct Aboriginal people with a unique culture, language and heritage, and with an ancestral Homeland that centers around Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, parts of the Northwest Territories, as well as the north-western United States. The Métis played an instrumental role in the shaping of Canada, and work tirelessly to share their culture, music, traditions and knowledge of the environment with their fellow Canadians. Today, the Métis live, work, raise their families and pay taxes in communities all across Canada.