{"id":208,"date":"2013-03-18T09:27:20","date_gmt":"2013-03-18T15:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/metisinthecourts.ualberta.ca\/?p=208"},"modified":"2013-03-19T09:15:18","modified_gmt":"2013-03-19T15:15:18","slug":"metis-canadian-relations-a-response-to-the-manitoba-metis-federation-v-canada-landmark-court-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metisinthecourts.ualberta.ca\/?p=208","title":{"rendered":"M\u00e9tis-Canadian Relations: A response to the Manitoba M\u00e9tis Federation v Canada landmark court decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AGaudry<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The following is a response to the recent Canadian Supreme Court ruling in the Manitoba\u00a0M\u00e9tis Federation Inc v Canada (Attorney General) case written by\u00a0M\u00e9tis<\/em> Ph.D Candidate in the Indigenous Governance Program at the University of Victoria and 2012-2013 Henry Roe Cloud Fellow at Yale University Adam Gaudry<\/b><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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MMF v. Canada<\/i> should rightfully be seen as a victory for the advancement of M\u00e9tis land restitution. It\u2028emphasizes the need for a regularized relationship between M\u00e9tis governments and the government of Canada, something which most M\u00e9tis welcome. Yet, the decision nonetheless reinforces\u2028a view that M\u00e9tis land rights are determined almost entirely by the Manitoba Act, which is ultimately a simple unilateral legal statute. The decision does acknowledge that the Manitoba Act has \u201ctreaty-like\u201d properties, as well as defining the specific obligations of the Canadian government outlined in the Act, obligations which have, so far, not been met. However, the focus on the Manitoba Act, ignores the reality that a 1.4 million acre M\u00e9tis land reserve was created by a negotiated agreement between a delegation from Red River, and a delegation from Canada in the Spring of 1870. The constellation of agreements that comprise what the Provisional Government of Assiniboia (the government of the M\u00e9tis and others in Red River) referred to as the \u2018Manitoba Treaty,\u2019 contained significantly more specific land protections than the somewhat limited language of the Act.<\/p>\n

For example, the Provisional Government and Dominion of Canada agreed that the 1.4 million acres for M\u00e9tis children (the lands now in question), would be selected and allotted by a committee of M\u00e9tis from Red River, not by the federal government. The agreement also included the provision that a law would be created that would protect M\u00e9tis ownership of this large land reserve by preventing the sale of the lots to non-M\u00e9tis. Finally, the M\u00e9tis land reserve would be selected and allotted before<\/i> Canadian settlement of the new province. While these agreements were not specifically mentioned in the Manitoba Act, they were nonetheless central to reaching the completion of the agreement, and were a necessary provision for Canada\u2019s settlement of the North-West\u2014there was armed M\u00e9tis preventing Canadian representatives from entering the region, after all. These three stipulations would prevent speculation on M\u00e9tis lands, and would have ensured that M\u00e9tis retained their central place in the new Province of Manitoba. However, by relying solely on the Manitoba Act (which both parties agreed was only part of the agreement), this more robust understanding is lost. Moving forward then, we must be careful not to take the Manitoba Act as the sole source document for the creation of Manitoba. There was a lot more going on than Canadians legislating its existence.<\/p>\n

By acknowledging the \u201ctreaty-like nature\u201d of the Act, the Supreme Court could potentially bring M\u00e9tis-Canadian relations into new territory (or as it were, an old\u2028territory). By acknowledging the origins of Manitoba in a treaty with the Manitoba M\u00e9tis, we can then look to a bilateral basis for understanding M\u00e9tis lands in Manitoba, rather than Canadian legislation. By recognizing the agreement on lands for what it was\u2014an act of international diplomacy, between two distinct political entities on more or less equal footing, we can better understand the 1870 vision for Manitoba\u2019s future\u2014a province with a significant and enduring M\u00e9tis element, with a large land base, and a strong (if not dominant) voice in the provincial legislature. By finding the basis for the province of Manitoba in bilateral negotiations, then we can also question Canada\u2019s presumed ability to unilaterally alter the agreement, as it has done with M\u00e9tis lands.<\/p>\n

The way forward then, as the MMF v. Canada <\/i>decision demonstrates, is both bilateral and political. It is premised on negotiations between political equals, not legislation or further litigation. What will put this issue to bed is land restitution, and a return to the original vision of Manitoba\u2014a province with a strong M\u00e9tis component, with substantive M\u00e9tis land reserved for M\u00e9tis families, and a central voice in the province\u2019s affairs.<\/p>\n

What also needs to be addressed is the land rights of the tens of thousands of M\u00e9tis who left Manitoba during the 1870s for Saskatchewan, Alberta, Northwestern Ontario, and British Columbia. Many M\u00e9tis families have built strong attachments to their post-1870 communities, and have built enduring ties to the other Indigenous communities in these places. The land rights of M\u00e9tis, currently outside of Manitoba also need to be addressed. As a Saskatchewan family is no less dispossessed of their land in Manitoba than a M\u00e9tis family in Manitoba. Clearly, there is a much more complex issue that the re-creation of a Manitoba land reserve.<\/p>\n

Canada needs to sincerely engage with the M\u00e9tis people, in order to resolve this ongoing injustice, stemming from historical dispossession. Without doing so, Canada\u2019s claims to justice and peace in the old North-West, will always be open to question.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following is a response to the recent Canadian Supreme Court ruling in the Manitoba\u00a0M\u00e9tis Federation Inc v Canada (Attorney General) case written by\u00a0M\u00e9tis Ph.D Candidate in the Indigenous Governance Program at the University of Victoria and 2012-2013 Henry Roe …<\/p>\n

M\u00e9tis-Canadian Relations: A response to the Manitoba M\u00e9tis Federation v Canada landmark court decision<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-court-case","category-expert-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metisinthecourts.ualberta.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metisinthecourts.ualberta.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metisinthecourts.ualberta.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metisinthecourts.ualberta.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metisinthecourts.ualberta.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=208"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/metisinthecourts.ualberta.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212,"href":"https:\/\/metisinthecourts.ualberta.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions\/212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metisinthecourts.ualberta.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metisinthecourts.ualberta.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metisinthecourts.ualberta.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}