MNC denies Saskatchewan funding plea

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The 20th general assembly of the Metis National Council (MNC) was a relatively straight-forward affair until it came time for the resolutions from the Metis Nation -Saskatchewan (MNS).

In resolution five, the MNS tried to get financial support from the national organization for its post-Powley work plan. (The Supreme Court of Canada Powley decision recognized the right of Metis to hunt and fish.) This funding would replace money suspended by the federal government after a provincial government probe found that the MNS election of its current slate of leaders was fraught with irregularities. Those irregularities had also prompted the Saskatchewan government to withhold it funding of the MNS.

Resolution five read:

"Whereas the 2004/2005 federal post-Powley resources promised to the Metis Nation- Saskatchewan is $1.175 million; Whereas MNS has not received any post-Powley funding allocation for this current fiscal year; Be it resolved that the MNC assembly support the MNS to implement our 2004/2005, 2005/2006 MNS post-Powley work plan through MNC sponsorship.

Be it further resolved that the MNC continue a lobby process to assist MNS to achieve this important matter."

The resolution was defeated with delegates from Alberta, Manitoba and British Columbia Metis organizations voting against it. Ontario, as a block, abstained from voting.

As a lead up to the resolution, day one of the assembly saw MNS president Dwayne Roth asking for time from the assembly to address the election concerns levied by the government. Roth assured the delegates the accusations against MNS are groundless. Roth said the allegation that voters' lists were padded with the names of dead and out-of-province voters was untrue. He asked for the support and understanding of the assembly in this time of trouble for the MNS leadership.

Support for the MNS leadership seemed implied by its very participation as voting members at the general assembly. Roth was not in attendance on Day two when the resolution for financial support for the MNS was presented.

Manitoba Metis Federation (MMF) President David Chartrand said the assembly did not vote against financial help for Saskatchewan based on a lack of support for the leaders. The assembly's problems came with the wording of the resolution, which he described as confusing, and the fact that the resolution was amended too often for it to be passed. Chartrand did say, however, that the MNS was asking for money the MNC does not have.

The Saskatchewan delegation was upset by the defeat of their resolution and voiced their displeasure after the vote.

Phillip Chartier, an MNS area director from northwest Saskatchewan, spoke in the absence of Roth, and called the vote against Saskatchewan a legal maneuver that demonstrated no real interest in building a true national governing body for the Metis.

The MNS position was simple, delegates stated-the national organization was denying the MNS its help.

Audrey Poitras, president of the Metis Nation of Alberta, took exception to the MNS putting the situation in those basic terms.

Poitras said the MNC had tried to help and had given the MNS other options.

"It's not about whether we want to help or not," she said.

Chartrand also took exception to the comments from MNS delegates.

"To make accusations that we have somehow as provinces stolen or taken Saskatchewan's money is a great insult to my province," he said.

The second resolution from the MNS also caused considerable debate on the assembly floor. It called for a meeting between MNC President Clem Chartier, Roth and the Federal Interlocutor for Metis and Non-Status Indians, Minister Andy Scott.

Resolution 11 was designed to reinstate a working relationship between the government of Canada and the MNS.

Prior to the vote, the MNS asked permission to have a non-delegate speak in favor of the resolution.

The request was allowed and Elder Nora Cummings spoke and admited there were problems with the election. She said the problems, however, had to be fixed from within the provincial organization.

As with the previous MNS resolution, number 11 was amended as well. It called for the MNC to allocate $30,000 to the MNS to initiate a judicial review against the government of Saskatchewan over its refusal to recognize the election and the decision to withhold provincial funding.

The MNC president spoke against the resolution and the amendment, saying that a court challenge would take too long.

A number of MNS delegates made emotional pleas for help from the assembly, to no avail. Metis Nation of Ontario president Tony Belcourt asked the mover of the resolution, provincial secretary of the MNS, Ralph Kennedy, to remove the amendment, which he did.

Once the request for funding was removed, the resolution was voted on and passed unanimously.

After the meeting, Phillip Chartier spoke of the problems the MNS is having with the government of Saskatchewan.

"We are being challenged by governments strictly because of political reasons," he said. "They don't want the Metis Nation of Saskatchewan to be strong politically because of the demographics in Saskatchewan," he said.

"They are realizing how powerful Aboriginal people are becoming in terms of population. Right now we are at about 15 per cent, so we could swing government either way. Within 20 years we could be up to 25 per cent.

"It's a serious concern of the province that if we ever became organized, they are afraid of that; we may become involved with their politics and we could decide who the government of the day would be."