FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – OTTAWA, ON
Dec 12, 2025
The Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) is deeply concerned by the growing wave of anti-Métis rhetoric and identity-based attacks emerging from Ontario to Alberta. What we are witnessing is not an isolated disagreement or a localized dispute. It is part of a broader and increasingly coordinated effort to delegitimize Métis peoples, undermine long recognized and hard-fought rights, and erase historic Métis communities.
This resurgence of anti-Métis activism is rooted in misinformation and false narratives that ignore generations of lived community history. It seeks to cast doubt on truths that until very recently were widely understood and acknowledged by Métis Nation leaders, First Nations leadership, and non-Indigenous governments alike. These efforts are not grounded in good-faith. Instead, they selectively dismiss inconvenient facts, deny Métis people a voice, and attempt to fracture relationships between Indigenous peoples for political, professional, and financial gain.
The historical record is clear. Métis communities have existed in the Upper Great Lakes, northern Ontario, and the prairies since the early nineteenth century as distinct communities with their own social, cultural, and economic practices. The existence of the Upper Great Lakes Métis was definitively recognized twenty-two years ago in R. v. Powley, when the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously affirmed the existence of a Métis community in and around Sault Ste. Marie, with existing rights protected under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982.
Powley was not pursued in isolation. Métis Nation governments from across the Homeland stood together in unanimous support, providing evidence of a historic Métis Nation and its communities, including affirming that “Sault Ste. Marie is part of the Métis Nation.” First Nations were asked by the Crown to oppose the case and chose not to do so, because they knew who the Métis of the Upper Great Lakes were and had respectfully coexisted for generations.
When the Powley decision was released, First Nations leaders celebrated alongside the Métis. The Assembly of First Nations publicly described the decision as “a victory for constitutional rights.” Anishinabek Nation leaders welcomed the Métis harvesting agreement that followed, recognizing it as long-overdue justice. As recently as this year, the AFN reaffirmed the Powley decision’s place in Canadian constitutional law. This history of mutual recognition and respect matters, and it cannot be erased by modern attempts at historical revisionism.
Yet today, a small but vocal group is attempting to rewrite this shared history with rhetoric that targets Métis people as illegitimate, fraudulent, or unproven. This is not simply an issue faced by Métis communities in Ontario. First Nations in northern Manitoba have recently asserted there are no historic or current Métis community in their territory. Earlier this week the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs appeared before the Supreme Court arguing that “unproven” Métis rights in Manitoba threaten complicate the implantation of historic First Nations treaties.
Regardless of location, these attacks are personal for Métis citizens, families, and communities. They aim to erase generations of Métis who proudly asserted their identity and defended their way of life, not for personal gain, but for dignity, survival, and justice. Similar conduct directed at any other Indigenous or ethnic group would rightly be condemned. Métis communities should be no exception.
The MNO remains focused on the safety and well-being of its citizens, and on advancing Métis self-government and treaty relationships through lawful, respectful processes. We remain committed to working with First Nations, non-Indigenous governments, and partners throughout Canadian society who engage in good faith and with respect for truth, history, and Indigenous rights. Our door is and has always been open.
The MNO rejects division and erasure in all their forms. Métis people and communities in Ontario are not new. They are part of this land’s past, present, and future. No campaign of misinformation, no revision of history, and no attempt at intimidation will undo what generations of Métis and First Nations peoples once affirmed together.
ABOUT THE MNO
The Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) is the democratically elected—federally and provincially recognized—government of Métis citizens and communities in Ontario, including the Métis community in and around Sault Ste. Marie that was recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada in R v. Powley.
Media inquiries: Media@metisnation.org