Métis Nation 'finding ourselves in Confederation' with land claim negotiations, president of MMF says
Negotiations 'setting a new relationship' for Métis in Canada, David Chartrand says
The president of the Manitoba Métis Federation says the opening-up of negotiations on a 146-year-old land claim dispute is going to change the way the Métis Nation sees itself in Canada for the better.
"I think we're slowly finding ourselves in Confederation, where do we fit in," said David Chartrand on Wednesday.
"We've always been excluded and locked out. As the Métis Nation, we've never been really allowed to sit at the table."
On Tuesday, Chartrand signed an agreement in Ottawa after Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett was given the "green light" to negotiate a land claim dispute based on the 1870 Manitoba Act, which created the province and brought it into Confederation.
In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled the government had failed to uphold its commitment to distribute more than 5,000 square kilometres of land to 7,000 children of the Red River Métis, as outlined in the Manitoba Act.
Nearly 150 years later, Chartrand said the opportunity to negotiate will give Métis people a chance to right that wrong.
"I think it's setting a new relationship [for] where the Métis will fit, and finally find its place in Confederation," Chartrand said.
According to the agreement signed on Tuesday, Chartrand and Bennett have a handful of scheduled meetings to work out some issues that still need to be negotiated, including a financial settlement for land that wasn't given to the Métis.
"From my perspective it's going to take a little bit more pathway, 'cause a lot of people still don't understand the full complexity of what this means," Chartrand said.
"But it's going to be good for Manitoba. When we of course receive our trust and develop our settlements, the community of Manitoba as a whole is going to benefit."
With files from Kelly Malone