For the record - what was said!
Wednesday March 8, 2006
Billions Ride On Defining "Metis"
Manitoba Group Would Exclude Easterners
By David O'Brien
Winnipeg Free Press
July 19, 2004
Page A3
The Metis National Council meets in Ottawa this weekend to nail down a key definition - just who and what is a Metis. With billions of dollars at stake in potential benefits from a Winnipeg land-claim case, the question is no idle historical and political curiosity.
"We want to conclude, once and for all, a national definition of who is Metis," said Dave Chartrand, persident of the Manitoba Metis Federation. As far as he's concerned, a Metis is a person of mixed native/European blood who traces his or her ancestry to Manitoba's Red River settlement, or to the 1879 Dominion Land Claims Act, which encompassed a portion of northwestern Ontario.
"We are mainly a Western Canadian nation," he said. If that definition holds, as many as 500,000 people across Canada who claim mixed-blood ancestry would be excluded from the Metis nation - and its benefits.
Chartrand said many mixed-blood people in Quebec, Ontario and elsewhere have claimed Metis status even though their origins are from outside Manitoba and northwestern Ontario. "They're not Metis people," Chartrand insisted, saying his narrow definition was important to the preservation of Metis culture and traditions.
There are roughly 37,000 registered Metis over 18, Chartrand said. He estimated Manitoba's total Metis population at 100,000. In addition to Manitoba, Metis federations from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario will attend this weekend's critical meeting.
Chartrand said the Ontario and B.C. federations prefer a broad definition of Metis, which if adopted would see Metis numbers in Canada soar to more than one million people - twice as many as he says there should be.
Manitoba Metis go to court next spring in a case that Chartrand said will be worth "billions of dollars." The Federation claims the provincial and federal governments breached sections of the 1870 Manitoba Act, which promised to give the Metis poeple a land base along the Red and Assiniboine rivers - the most valuable land of present-day Winnipeg.
Chartrand said he doesn't expect the land to be returned to the Metis, but any settlement should reflect what he called an enormous injustice. "It's not a question of if, it's just when we win," he said. "We think the case is open and shut." The Federation's executive, Chartrand said, believed any financial benefit should be held in trust and invested in the future of the Metis community.
But he said a referendum would be held on what to do with the money, if the case is successful. More and more Metis have been reclaiming their heritage in recent years, a marked change form the past, Chartrand said.
mailto:dave.o
Billions Ride On Defining "Metis"
Manitoba Group Would Exclude Easterners
By David O'Brien
Winnipeg Free Press
July 19, 2004
Page A3
The Metis National Council meets in Ottawa this weekend to nail down a key definition - just who and what is a Metis. With billions of dollars at stake in potential benefits from a Winnipeg land-claim case, the question is no idle historical and political curiosity.
"We want to conclude, once and for all, a national definition of who is Metis," said Dave Chartrand, persident of the Manitoba Metis Federation. As far as he's concerned, a Metis is a person of mixed native/European blood who traces his or her ancestry to Manitoba's Red River settlement, or to the 1879 Dominion Land Claims Act, which encompassed a portion of northwestern Ontario.
"We are mainly a Western Canadian nation," he said. If that definition holds, as many as 500,000 people across Canada who claim mixed-blood ancestry would be excluded from the Metis nation - and its benefits.
Chartrand said many mixed-blood people in Quebec, Ontario and elsewhere have claimed Metis status even though their origins are from outside Manitoba and northwestern Ontario. "They're not Metis people," Chartrand insisted, saying his narrow definition was important to the preservation of Metis culture and traditions.
There are roughly 37,000 registered Metis over 18, Chartrand said. He estimated Manitoba's total Metis population at 100,000. In addition to Manitoba, Metis federations from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario will attend this weekend's critical meeting.
Chartrand said the Ontario and B.C. federations prefer a broad definition of Metis, which if adopted would see Metis numbers in Canada soar to more than one million people - twice as many as he says there should be.
Manitoba Metis go to court next spring in a case that Chartrand said will be worth "billions of dollars." The Federation claims the provincial and federal governments breached sections of the 1870 Manitoba Act, which promised to give the Metis poeple a land base along the Red and Assiniboine rivers - the most valuable land of present-day Winnipeg.
Chartrand said he doesn't expect the land to be returned to the Metis, but any settlement should reflect what he called an enormous injustice. "It's not a question of if, it's just when we win," he said. "We think the case is open and shut." The Federation's executive, Chartrand said, believed any financial benefit should be held in trust and invested in the future of the Metis community.
But he said a referendum would be held on what to do with the money, if the case is successful. More and more Metis have been reclaiming their heritage in recent years, a marked change form the past, Chartrand said.
mailto:dave.o
posted by Clare L. Pieuk at 8:26 PM
1 Comments:
First David says "It's not a question of if, it's just when we win," he said."
Then he goes on to say "if the case is successful". What kind of double talk is that? I think David should get out of there and let Dumont carry on what he started in 1981. David is to focused on the money end of it while Dumont is focused on advancing the Metis part of it. Again David's greed shows when he starts saying " this deal could be worth Billions" or something like that. If I'm wrong correct me because I don't want to be sued by Clair's tax dollars that end up at the MMF.
Dusty
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