SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A passionate discussion about Metis identity and indigenous rights unfolded in Yellowknife last week during National Chief Betty Ann Lavallee's latest visit on behalf of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples in Canada.
Bill Enge, president of the North Slave Metis Alliance - Daron Letts/NNSL photo |
The Mik'maq chief's Feb. 12 stopover in the NWT capital was part of a national "grassroots engagement" tour in advance of a monumental Supreme Court of Canada hearing anticipated to begin later this year.
Lavallee's organization launched a court case 15 years ago that has since moved up through the Federal Court of Canada, Federal Court of Appeal and now to the country's highest court, which announced it would hear the case in November. The organization is asking the court to determine whether Metis and non-status Indians are "Indians" in terms of the 1867 Constitution Act, formerly known as the British North America Act.
Last April, the Federal Court of Appeal agreed Metis are Indians under section 91(24) of the Constitution. The federal government conceded at the appeal hearing that non-status Indians fall under federal jurisdiction.
The Supreme Court's decision is expected to define the federal government's responsibility to Metis and non-status Indians living off-reserve, and could result in Metis people having access to programs relating to health care, education and housing, which are currently denied to them.
Approximately 20 people, including members of the North Slave Metis Alliance, attended Lavallee's talk at the Explorer Hotel last week.
"The Daniels case is going to settle the question once and for all whether or not Metis are a federal government responsibility," said Bill Enge, Metis Alliance president. "This is a long time coming. Since Confederation, the Metis have been periferalized and we've been a political football being tossed around between the federal, provincial and territorial governments."
The court case, launched in 1999 by the congress' past national chief, the late Harry Daniels, affects approximately 200,000 people identified as non-status Indians in Canada and another 450,000 who identify as Metis, according to Lavallee.
The deadline for prospective intervenors - people with interest in the case and given the opportunity to share their perspective in court - is March 15.
The North Slave Metis Alliance executive is exploring the possibility of applying to become intervenors, said Enge.
The hearing is expected to be scheduled by fall, according to the congress' legal counsel. A decision would likely come within six months of the start of the hearing, according to the organization's legal team.
"If the Federal Court of Appeal ruling stands, then the indigenous Metis of Canada are now going to be provided with access to federal programs and services that are right now solely provided to 'Indians' and Inuit," said Enge. "The Metis will then have to be treated equally to their First Nation and Inuit counterparts."
In addition to health care, education, housing and other programming becoming accessible to Metis if the ruling is upheld, the issue of land claims could also open up, said Enge.
"There's going to be a real movement for Metis to start lobbying the federal government to provide them with land," he added.
0"Right now most of the Metis, they're dispossessed and landless. With this responsibility there's an opportunity here for the Metis to finally have their own settlement lands like First Nations and Inuit enjoy."
The congress estimates the federal government has spent $9 million fighting the case to date. The organization has spent close to $2 million on legal fees.
The organization's legal costs had been covered through Indian and Northern Affairs Canada's Test Case Funding Program, which was designed to fund test cases related to indigenous matters that have the potential to create judicial precedents. The federal government shut this program down in 2009.
"Since that time we've had to do it with our own resources and petition the court for costs," said Lavallee.
Participants in last week's event also expressed feelings about other issues, including frustration about a lack of access to indigenous language translators and insufficient cultural sensitivity in the territory's health-care system; criticism of the $3,000 personal education credits stipulated by the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement; and concern about what they characterized as a lack of consultation with indigenous residents last year during the devolution process.
"It was really engaging," said Lavallee. "We had a hard time shutting down. Once people got started there was no stopping them."
