Loss of “true Metis nationalist” will be felt

Métis from Saskatchewan and across Canada were mourning the loss of one of their leaders in late August.
Phillip Chartier, a lifelong advocate of Métis rights, died on Aug. 29 following a battle with cancer. He was 61.
Chartier is survived by his wife and their five children; Terry, Adrian, Peter, Sean and Kayla. His family also includes eight grandchildren and one great grandchild.
“It’s a real big loss to the Métis,” said Marlene Hansen, the area director for the North West Region of Métis Nation-Saskatchewan and a close friend of Chartier.
Hansen felt Chartier’s leadership was one of his best traits.

“Phillip was a strong believer in getting people to recognize and realize who they were,” she said. “He did a lot of activities and was constantly advocating Métis rights.”

Chartier was not only considered a Métis leader in Buffalo Narrows but throughout Saskatchewan and nationally.
Métis National Council president Clem Chartier was Phillip’s uncle. He gave the eulogy at Chartier’s funeral.
In that eulogy Clem described his nephew as “a caring leader of his community to which he dedicated the majority of his life as local president.”

Clem added that Phillip was “a true Métis nationalist who never wavered from pursuing the best interests of the Métis Nation and people.”

Clem presented Phillip with a Métis Nation President’s Recognition Award this past July. This accolade was for his lengthy battles for Métis rights.

Chartier’s leadership became evident back in the early 1970s when he was a Métis youth leader in northwest Saskatchewan.

Besides being his community’s local Métis president, over the years Chartier served in various capacities with the Clearwater Clear Lake Métis Regional Council, the North West Saskatchewan Métis Council (he was one of its founders), Méis Society of Saskatchewan, the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan as well as the Métis National Council.

Chartier’s tireless work also included serving several terms as chairperson of the Gabriel Dumont Institute. Other boards he sat on included the Métis Employment and Training of Saskatchewan and the Buffalo Narrows Friendship Centre.

One of Chartier’s most noteworthy feats was being part of the group which brought in the 1994 North West land claim in Saskatchewan.

“It set precedents across the Métis homeland, which is Canada,” Hansen said.

Chartier was also involved with numerous Métis hunting and fishing challenges. Out of these projects the Métis Rights Defence Fund was started in 1992. Funds were used to defend numerous Métis who had their hunting and fishing cases go to trial.

Robert Doucette, the president of Métis Nation-Saskatchewan, who ran again Chartier, said his death is indeed a big blow to Métis everywhere.

Doucette said Chartier’s contributions are evident by a passage in Chartier’s last election pamphlet. In that pamphlet Chartier wrote, “We need to move forward together, to join our voices again as one to address the long standing and complex problems facing our citizens and communities. The future of the Nation can only move ahead if we work together.”