MNA member not confident review of structure will bring necessary changes

April 19, 2016.

Metis Nation of Alberta President Audrey Poitras says everything is open for discussion as executive and membership move forward on a new governance structure for the MNA.

The existing governing structure has been in place since 1984. Poitras says changes are necessary as the MNA pushes negotiations for self-government with the province and now the federal government, in wake of last week’s Daniels’ decision that says Metis and non-status Indians fall under federal jurisdiction.

“Thirty years go by and things change, people change and ways of doing business change. And that’s what it’s all about is what can we do better? Is the structure we have today still beneficial today as it was back then? In some ways, I see some of it that probably isn’t as beneficial,” said Poitras.

That the MNA is long overdue for change will get no argument from Dean Lindsay, a Metis, who lives in the Slave Lake region.

From battling the Powley definition of Metis, which has been accepted by the Metis National Council, the MNA’s national body, to what he calls “corrupt election practises” when his nomination package for Region 5 president was turned down in 2011, Lindsay says, “We’re not getting good governance.”

Among the changes Lindsay says that have been “discussed on the backbenches” is limiting elected officials to two terms. Poitras has served as president since 1996, the first woman elected in that position. Being at the helm of MNA for so long, contends Lindsay, has provided Poitras with too much control.

Lindsay also takes exception to the recent suspension of the Metis Judiciary Council. A motion was made at the annual general assembly last August to review the judiciary council as, according to the motion, its “operations and functions happen behind closed doors without any transparency to MNA members and to date little to no information is provided to the members of the MNA on its operations or the decisions it makes.”

“They shut down the judiciary council so there’s nobody to deal with what’s going on. The people have no recourse,” said Lindsay. He added that he’s been trying to convince other MNA members to take court action, but the costs have been prohibitive.

Poitras says advice was sought from legal counsel, which recommended that the judiciary council be suspended until the review, which is to be undertaken by an outside organization, was completed. Poitras says those with “disputes on the table” were made aware of the delay.

“When the review is finished, then we will move forward with the disputes,” she said.

Meanwhile, Shalene Jobin and Kirsten Lindquist, from the faculty of Native studies at the University of Alberta, who are conducting the review of the MNA governance structure, continue to meet with membership. They will be in Peace River on Tuesday and in Slave Lake on Wednesday.

Lindsay, who plans to attend the meeting in Slave Lake, isn’t confident that the review will result in any substantial changes that will impact the existing power structure.

“I think (Jobin and Lindquist) are going to get shown a lot of milk and honey and not really find out what’s really going on,” said Lindsay. “At the end of the day, it’s the Metis people who will be hurt the most by this scarred government.”

It is this disillusionment and frustration that prompted Lindsay and other disgruntled MNA members to start the Aboriginal Alliance of Alberta in late 2014. The AAA’s membership goes beyond the MNA’s citizenship and includes the “red and white” card holders. Those card holders are gradually being replaced on the MNA’s role by Metis citizens, those who fall under the Powley definition accepted by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2003. The Powley definition sets three criteria: identify as a Métis person; be a member of a present-day Métis community; and, have ties to a historic Métis community.

“I fought for the people … well, I’m still fighting for them to get what’s rightfully theirs,” said Lindsay. “We started up a new group so … all of the displaced people have somebody willing to fight for them.”