Split rumor fulfilled

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Metis form new group

Prophesies of a split within the ranks of the Metis Association of Alberta were fulfilled this week with the official formation of a splinter group.

The Alberta Metis Nation Alliance held it first meeting at the Edmonton Friendship Centre Oct. 25 formalizing the rumored split within the Metis Association.

Recently several Metis Association members have expressed concern over the new administration and alleged unfair election practices. Some have threatened to leave the organization, including former vice-president, Jo-Ann Daniels and Freezien Norris, niece of MAA founder Malcolm Norris.

Leader of the new organization is ousted Metis Association member and former Zone 4 director, Ron LaRocque. He is joined by the president of Edmonton Local 83, Jo-Ann Daniels. Daniels, daughter of former MAA president Stan Daniels, says she will be making her decision on whether or not to leave the Metis Association within the next few days.

"My family has already decided to leave and I feel a tremendous pain when I think of the work my father gave to the organization. But this (the Metis Association) is not the organization I grew up with," she said.

Daniels says she will raise the question of the split at the next meeting of her Local which is scheduled to be held within the next two weeks.

"They, of course, will have the final say, but I know what my advice will be," she said.

LaRocque echoes Daniel's views saying many other people within the MAA are disenchanted with the new administration under president Larry Desmeules.

"The descendents of the five founding fathers of the organization are particularly unhappy with the turn the Association is taking," he says.

LaRocque has scheduled the next meeting of the Alliance for Nov. 8 at the Edmonton Friendship Centre. New members of the Alliance will pay a $20 membership fee and will be

expected to sign an affidavit swearing they are true Metis people.

There will be eight classes of membership including honorary membership for non-Native people.

"We were registered in corporate registry Oct. 5 and since then we have been busily working on the constitution and the bylaws," says LaRocque.

A preliminary constitution has been drafted and a special code of ethics is being formed. The organization will consist of a provincially elected president, vice-president, treasurer and secretary along with five executive members elected from defined areas within the province.

Although these areas have not been drawn up, LaRocque indicates that areas similar to the MAA zones will be formed. And as with the Metis Association, there will be local associations, named in this case, Metis Rising Associations.

A special affidavit ceremony is scheduled to take place Nov. 16 when several new members will publicly attest to their Metis heritage to coincide with the 102 anniversary of Louis Riel's hanging.

"As things stand within the MAA now," says LaRocque, "no one speaks for the organization as a whole, you only have the president and if he is weak you have no one."

However, unlike the Metis Association, LaRocque says the Alliance will not apply for government funding for the political wing of the organization.

"But for particular projects, we will be applying for funding from the appropriate department," he says.

LaRocque envisions the establishment of Metis archives, a Metis education program, based on the Gabriel Dumont Institute in Saskatchewan, and a housing cooperative with funding supplied from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

"Many people believe that $20 is a lot of money to ask from members, and it is, but we want to encourage active membership involvement. Support for the political wing of the organization will therefore have to come from fund raising from the private sector," he says.

LaRocque feels "true Metis culture" is being suppressed within the Metis Association and "true Metis" have no other place to go.

"But with this organization our focu will be only on Metis people and Metis issues. We are distinct. We have a distinct language because our Cree is different from the Cree spoken by Indians and all this is being submerged by other concerns within the Metis Association. Our organization is going to re-kindle that pride in our culture," he says.

Metis Association president, Larry Desmeules was contacted at his Edmonton office this week. However, Desmeules refused the opportunity to comment.