New citizenship cards not acceptable by MNA members

Officials with the Métis Nation of Alberta are refusing to comment on the defeat of a special resolution that, if accepted, would have seen more than half their members losing voting privileges in the organization.

Repeated attempts by Sweetgrass, both written and verbal, for an interview with MNA President Audrey Poitras have met with no response. Charity Sokolan, with MNA’s corporate communications, stated in an e-mail that “I have forwarded your request to President Poitras and our CAO.”

Lack of communication with executive is just one of the frustrations noted by member Dean Lindsay, who was a driving force behind the defeat of the resolution that would have seen the bylaws rewritten.

Special resolution number one amended MNA bylaws, in part, to include “Métis citizenship” and do away with the “membership”category.

The proposed bylaws outlined that only those who held “Métis citizenship” were able to vote on MNA business or run for MNA office.

The special resolution was defeated first in a vote of a showing of hands and then in a vote by secret ballot. According to a count provided by Lindsay, the show of hands indicated a defeat by four votes, but after the secret ballot the margin increased to eight per cent.
In August 2009 at the MNA’s Annual General Assembly, an Ordinary Resolution was passed calling for the phasing out of the red and white laminated cards. However, the Ordinary Resolution did not have the effect of changing the bylaws, which forced the May 29, 2010, special meeting, held in Edmonton.

According to the MNA, 40,000 members have red and white cards and only 15,000 have citizenship cards. The campaign for the new citizenship card has been ongoing for over five years.

“Anybody who has red and white cards are being bumped down to second class citizens,” said Lindsay, who has his Métis citizenship card.

Lindsay, a Métis residing in the Slave Lake area, started a short but forceful campaign to convince other Métis not to adopt the new bylaws.

Among his concerns is what he’s claiming is questionable practice on the part of the MNA to get members registered as citizens.

“In Zone 5, the Slave Lake region, people from here have had to literally scrap their way in through the doors to get their applications in. They tried to bring the registry up here, then Audrey (Poitras) and them pulled it out. Just seems that they’ve been doing a lot of selective … choosing who is and isn’t (Métis),” said Lindsay.

There is also the added cost of gathering numerous birth certificates to prove genealogy back to the mid 1800s, which is a requirement for obtaining the citizenship card.
Whether everybody holding a red and white card will qualify as a Métis citizen is also another concern.

“Originally to get into the MNA wasn’t as hard,” said Lindsay. “Everybody knew everybody . . . .  I don’t know why they’d want to kick members out. It took a hundred years to get people together in this regard to get a voice.”

As far as Lindsay is concerned, people who presently hold red and white cards are Métis, have already been accepted as such under the existing MNA bylaws, and should be grandfathered into the new citizenship requirements.

“My argument with the Métis Nation today is these red and white cardholders are and have been lifetime members since the ‘70s or whenever this card came out. So in effect, according to our definition of Métis, you’ve been accepted into this, you’ve lived your life as the Métis, basically that does qualify you. You are of Aboriginal descent,” said Lindsay.

Defeat of the special resolution is a blow to the MNA executive, which took the passage of the Ordinary Resolution at the August 2009 meeting as “strong direction to move forward on implementing the resolution’s desired intent,” according to a blog entitled “Métis News and Stuff,” explaining the move to citizenship.

“I’m not opposing the new citizenship card. I’m opposing how hard they‘re making it for everybody,” said Lindsay.
Members had until June 18 to submit special resolutions for the MNA’s Annual General Assembly in Wabasca in August.

Lindsay said he’ll be pushing for a special resolution that will make MNA politicians more accountable “to protect us from this kind of stuff. We’re all Métis people, we’ve all carried (the red and white) card, we’ve all lived the life.”
Métis organizations in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Ontario are all working on similar citizenship registries as is the MNA.