Office of the President. privileges and rights we enjoyed

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1 Message from the President It was recently brought to my attention that one of the many socalled National Métis organizations springing up, in this case the Canadian Métis Federation that purports to cover all of Canada, is preparing to apply for inter vener status in the Daniels case. Up to now, these organizations, while being distractions, have not been much cause for concern. It would be unfortunate if they are successful in getting the ear of the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC). The SCC has made it clear in Powley that being of mixed ancestry does not in itself make one Métis as that term is used in the Constitution Act 1982, that is, a people with an historic existence as such, capable of then and now possessing rights. In Cunningham, the SCC clearly stated that the Métis people originated on the plains of what is now the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Clearly this is a reference to the historic Métis Nation which was described by President LaRocque of the Métis Society of Saskatchewan in 1946 as being: With further reference to privileges and rights we enjoyed before the dawn of intense immigration on these vast plains of ours, and what we call today Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the North West Territories, and the following Lakes: Winnipeg, Winnipegosis, Manitoba, Dauphin, Waterhen, Cedar, Ile a Crosse (sic), Athabasca, Montreal, Great Slave, and those Rivers: Saskatchewan, Assiniboine, Rouge, Winnipeg, Churchill, Nelson, Bea ver, MacKenzie, and Qu Appelle, etc. These lakes and rivers, and one of the most fertile domains in the world, constituted our native land. This gets us back to the Canadian Métis Federation and similar groups. What right do they have to purport to speak on behalf of the established Métis people and nation who ha ve their own representative political bodies and governments, well established over many generations? The continued existence of the historic Métis Nation in its historic homeland requires that today s leaders take a hard stand on this issue. The integrity of the Métis Nation must be upheld and must not be sacrificed on the altar of political expediency and conflict avoidance. Furthermore, the historic Métis Nation represented by the Métis National Council must consolidate its political and governmental mandate, through the adoption of a Constitution and complementar y federal legislation recognizing Métis Nation government, and its Métis Nation registry for legitimate citizens of the Métis Nation.

2 President Chartier and Minister Valcourt Pursue Métis Nation Protocol Agenda President Clément Chartier and the Hon. Bernard Valcourt, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC), met in Ottawa on December 15, 2014, to pursue a number of key priorities under the Protocol, in particular the planning of the third Métis Economic Development Symposium and the development of a long term Métis economic development strategy. The meeting of the federal Minister with President Chartier builds on the progress that senior officials f rom AANDC, the MNC and its Governing Members have been making on a number of issues. These include federal funding levels and the method of funding the MNC and its Governing Members, the renewal of Powley funding for the citizenship registries, and the implementation of an action plan that will lead to the signing of an economic development accord between Canada and the MNC. I am pleased that the process envisaged under the renewed Métis Nation Protocol is now unfolding, said President Chartier. Minister Valcourt wishes to enga ge with us constructively and was generally supportive of my proposals. I was particularly impressed by his commitment to move ahead forcefully on economic development and to engage the five provinces on MEDS and other issues including Métis rights. He is giving a lot of thought to Canada s relationship with the Métis and that is a positive thing.

3 Métis Rights Panel Meets The MRP met in Vancouver BC on January 19-20, All members were in attendance and a number of critical matters were discussed. One of the topics which generated a significant amount of discussion was the Interim Policy issued by AANDC last fall dealing with the federal government s comprehensive land claims policy. The Interim Policy (IP) is the basis for a consultation on a new comprehensive claims policy being entertained by the federal government. The IP is premised on s.35 Aboriginal rights (including Aboriginal title to lands and resources) and the reconciliation of the s.35 Aboriginal rights with the rest of Canadian society. This is a significant expansion of the previous comprehensive claims policy. It was reported that President Chartier met with Douglas Eyford, the Minister s Special Representative undertaking the consultation in early December and expressed concern that it appeared that the Métis may remain excluded from the new policy as the s.35 rights were defined as those in existence precontact, as opposed to preeffective European control. In a subsequent meeting with Minister Valcourt, the Minister confirmed that the policy was in fact not meant to include the Métis, but that the Minister was prepared to discuss the potential for addressing Métis s.35 rights Continued on next page

4 through a separate policy to be worked out between the Métis Nation and the federal government. The new policy has not yet been released, so it is not clear or certain what it will contain. In this connection a number of past and pending cases were discussed including the March 2013 MMF decision, the Ross River Dena Council trial which took place last fall, and the Caron case to be heard on appeal in the SCC on February 13, The MMF case is important in that the Honour of Crown was applied in that case and can be helpful in future cases dealing with Métis land rights issues. The Ross River case and Caron are also important as they involve the 1870 Order which admitted what is now western Canada into confederation in 1870 and, along with the Manitoba Act 1870, provide the basis for grounding the Honour of the Crown in cases such as Morin v Canada, Saskatchewan litigation on Métis scrip that was initiated in 1994 and which has not yet gone to trial. A number of other matters were discussed and the MRP will reconvene on March 10-11, 2015 in Fort McMurray, Alberta to continue its discussions. President Chartier attends Aboriginal AIDS Awareness Week President Chartier on December 1, 2014 attended the launch of the Aboriginal Aids Awareness Week in Regina, Saskatchewan. During the week of December 1-6, 2014 National Events and Activities under the theme, Live Wholistically, Healthier and Longer took place across Canada. In his address to the meeting, President Chartier praised the work and perseverance of Canadian Aboriginal Aids Network(CAAN) in addressing the issue of Aids and the Aboriginal community and their dedicated efforts to bring the issues to the Canadian public, along with support to those in need. The National Events and Activities continued for the rest of the week in New Credit, ON, Ottawa, ON, Winnipeg, MB, Montreal, PQ, Vancouver, BC and Toronto, ON.

5 International Happenings United Nations: In follow-up to the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in 2007 the Permanent For um on Indigenous Issues (FPII) has been looking at ways and means to give meaningful recognition and implementation of the provisions of the Declaration. As result of the work of the PFII since 2007, the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations authorized a three-day international experts working group meeting to be held at the UN headquarters in New York City from January th, Due to the snowstorm which struck that part of the United States, the expert group meeting actually took place on January th, which President Chartier attended. The theme or purpose of the expert working group meetings was a Dialogue on an optional protocol to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples with a specific focus on land, territories and resource rights. In preparation to the session, a Concept Note was prepared by the UN, along with a Note by the PFII Secretariat. There were also five papers prepared by experts, who also presented them at the session. One of the experts was the former Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples who meet with the MNC during his Canada country visit in An optional protocol is a companion or supplementary agreement to a main agreement, in this case the land, territories and resource rights provision of the UNDRIP which would provide specific attention to that part of the Declaration in terms of its implementation or enforcement. After two days of dialogue the experts working group will now study the results and make a report to the PFII at its fourteenth session on April 20 to May 1, Continued on next page

6 International Happenings Organization of American States (OAS) At the OAS General Assemblies in 2012, 2013 and 2014 resolutions were passed calling on further negotiation sessions on the draft Inter-American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the last one having been held in the winter/ spring of OAS GAs are held in June of each year, and are attended by Foreign Affairs Ministers. Further, the OAS holds a Summit of the Americas every three years where the countries leaders get together. The last one was held in Colombia, South America in the spring of This Summit, as well as the previous three had a companion Indigenous Peoples Summit, the results of which were then presented to the Foreign Affairs ministers who meet before the Presidents and Prime Ministers. In December 2014 the MNC was informed that the next Summit of the Americas would take place in Panama, Central America in April 2015 and that there would be no Indigenous Summit, so the Indigenous voice will not be heard, while other sectors of Civil Society and Social Actors will be involved. It appeared that there would be no negotiation session again this year, but we found out in mid- January that there was talk of having a negotiation session in February After a few days it became clear that the OAS was in fact organizing four sessions instead of the usual one: February 9-11, 2015; March 9-11, 2015; April 22-24, 2015 and May 14-15, They have also scheduled a final meeting on May 19, 2015 where the OAS will adopt a draft resolution on the draft to be taken to the OAS GA in June 2015 in Haiti. The above meetings will take place at the OAS headquarters in Washington, DC. Further, the OAS will deviate from past practice and will only provide financial support to four Indigenous persons to attend each of the four sessions, one from each of the four regions: South America, Central America, the Caribbean and North America. Other Indigenous peoples who wish to attend must do so at their own expense. This will be extremely difficult for Indigenous representatives from South and Central America as they relied on OAS funding in the past.

7 UPCOMING EVENTS National Roundtable on Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women and girls - Feb Ottawa, ON Saskatchewan Economic Development Engagement Session Feb 26 Saskatoon, SK Alberta Economic Development Engagement Session March 5 Edmonton, AB B.C. Economic Development Engagement Session March 6 Vancouver, BC Wood Buffalo Métis Rights and Economic Development Symposium - Mar Fort McMurray, AB Métis Rights Panel Meeting March 9-11 Fort McMurray, AB Manitoba Economic Development Engagement Session March 13 Winnipeg, MB Manitoba Youth Entrepreneurship Symposium Métis Economic Development Symposium III March Winnipeg, MB March Winnipeg, MB

8 Office of the President Office of the President Métis National Council #4-340 MacLaren Street Ottawa, ON K2P 0M6 (800)