This Op-Ed article originally appeared in the Hill Times on January 10, 2023
Ontario Métis communities do not need the blessing of the current leadership of the Manitoba Métis Federation to exist anymore than the Cree in Alberta need the blessing of the Cree in Quebec to exist and govern themselves.
An op-ed recently printed on these pages suggested Parliamentarians should ignore the facts of history, Canada’s Constitution, and the conclusions of the Supreme Court of Canada regarding the existence of Métis communities in Ontario. Such ill-informed, false, and demeaning statements that Ontario Metis are “pretendians” or fraudsters necessitate a response.
Some conveniently ignore the reality that the first-and only Supreme Court of Canada decision that confirmed the existence of a rights-bearing Métis community anywhere in Canada comes from Ontario. In 2003, a unanimous Supreme Court unequivocally held in R. v. Powley:” members of the Métis community in and around Sault Ste. Marie have an aboriginal right to hunt for food under s. 35.”
The Sault Ste. Marie Métis community is located in northcentral Ontario, 1,400 km from the Red River. The narrative that all Métis come from the Red River was rejected by the Supreme Court, which unanimously held: “given the vast territory of what is now Canada, we should not be surprised to find that different groups of Métis exhibit their own distinctive traits and traditions.” Ontario Métis communities do not need the blessing of the current leadership of the Manitoba Métis Federation to exist anymore than the Cree in Alberta need the blessing of the Cree in Quebec to exist and govern themselves.
The Sault Ste. Marie Métis community was also not magically dropped from the sky, and it is not the only Métis community in all of Ontario. It was-and is-connected to other regional Métis communities located in northern Ontario or surrounding the Upper Great Lakes. More than 130 First Nation communities have been recognized in Ontario, yet seven Métis communities that have more than two centuries of history are brushed off as “pretendians.”
Throughout the decade-long journey of R. v. Powley through the courts, no one alleged-as is being done today through drive-by statements-that Ontario Métis communities were “fake” or “pretendians.” Based on the overwhelming evidence that was before the courts, no one could make any such outrageous claim. However, in the age of social media, self-proclaimed “experts” attempt to hold themselves and their reports out as credible. They are not.
And it’s worth noting that no one objected to the conclusions of the 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples that further confirmed Ontario Métis communities existed. Ontario Métis were a part of the Métis Nation Accord in 1992, and were at the table in 1982 when Métis were included in Canada’s Constitution. In 2015, the Ontario legislature unanimously passed the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) Secretariat Act, which recognizes the MNO’s unique self-government. To suggest that Ontario Métis are now “self-indigenizing” is simply ridiculous and offensive.
In R. v. Powley, the Supreme Court directed governments to begin to negotiate with Métis communities, not just litigate against us. For two decades, R. v. Powley has been the legal precedent relied upon to establish and negotiate Métis rights in the prairies as well as the Northwest Territories. It is also the precedent relied upon to deny the existence of Métis rights in Quebec, the Maritimes, and other regions of Canada.
It is deceptive to claim Ontario has recognized “new” Métis communities. They are not new communities. They petitioned or took collective action when historic treaties were being negotiated with First Nations in the 1800s, but Métis were excluded. Just because Métis were historically ignored then does not make these communities less worthy of recognition today.
It is dangerous to mislead Parliamentarians and willfully ignore the conclusions and directions of the Supreme Court of Canada. Just as Parliamentarians can’t choose to ignore the Supreme Court’s recognition of First Nations and their treaty rights, they cannot ignore court decisions that recognize Métis rights. The rule of law doesn’t work that way.
Bill C-53 does not address or adopt Ontario’s recognition of various rights-bearing Métis communities. Instead, Bill C-53 is about recognizing the internal self-government of the MNO related to our citizenship, elections, financial management, and child and family services.
Bill C-53 is needed to finally address the historic injustice of the exclusion of our communities from recognition. If our communities were simply recognized when they asserted themselves-which they have continued to do over two centuries-no one would be claiming these are “new” or”fake” communities today. It is ironic that those who deride colonization do not understand its unique effects on the Métis.
Finally, Ontario Métis communities do not derive their harvesting rights, their right to be consulted, or their special relationship to the land from Bill C-53. These rights already exist independently from this legislation, and they aren’t going anywhere. Bill C-53 simply recognizes what currently exists; namely, that the MNO is already a Métis government for its citizens. It is recognition long overdue.
To download a PDF version of the article as seen in the print paper, click here.