The descendants of Louis Riel are taking a step toward fulfilling his dream of Métis self-determination as they sign an agreement with Ottawa that is intended to lead to the creation of their own government.
Carolyn Bennett, the federal Minister for Crown-Indigenous Relations, will be in Winnipeg on Saturday to announce what her department describes as a plan for reconciliation with the Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) and its people.
The Minister will provide $154.3-million in funding to the MMF, most of which will be put toward social programs that the federation says are necessary to close an economic gap between the Métis and the rest of Canada.
But $40-million of that will be used to help the MMF transition from a special-interest advocacy group into a self-governing Indigenous Nation, the details of which still have to be negotiated with Ottawa.
File photo of Manitoba Métis Federation president David Chartrand with the Métis Infinity Flag.Robert Tinker/The Globe and Mail
David Chartrand, who has been MMF president for more than 20 years, said the agreement is the beginning of the realization of the dream of Riel, the Métis leader who was hanged for treason in 1885 and who formed a provisional government in 1869 that joined confederation as Manitoba under the Manitoba Act of 1870.
"It is changing our place in history back to what it was. For us, it is bringing us back into Confederation,” Mr. Chartrand said on Friday in Ottawa where he filmed a video with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to mark the historic occasion.
“Now that we have the government back at the table, we can start to negotiate the self-government that was promised,” Mr. Chartrand said.
The Supreme Court of Canada found in 2013 that the Crown failed to implement the land provisions of the Manitoba Act, which called for 1.4 million acres of land, including Winnipeg, to be given to Métis children.
The top court also ruled in 2016 that the Métis are Indians under the Constitution and the government had to recognize and negotiate with them as such. The MMF says the Métis are people of mixed Indigenous and European race and who can trace their roots to one of the historic Métis communities in Western Canada and estimates that about 120,000 people can claim that ancestry.
As for the more than $100-million of new money that will be directed to social programs, Mr. Chartrand said that is a “down payment” on the amount that Canada owes his people for land they were denied.
Some of it will create grants for young Métis people that can be put toward a first house. Some will build 100 new, single-family homes for seniors, each with a greenhouse attached. Some will offset the cost of university tuition for Métis students. Some will help older people pay for medication. A portion may be used to purchase land to protect it for hunting. And some will fund small capital investments so Métis people can start their own businesses.
“We make a lot of our own economic engine right now,” Mr. Chartrand said, "but this will be putting fuel to the fire for us. "
The funding comes on the heels of a commitment by the federal government this week to spend $1.7-billion over 10 years on early learning and child care for Indigenous people, a promise that specifically mentioned the Métis. That followed an agreement in July that said Ottawa would spend $500-million over 10 years to support a Métis housing strategy.
“They’ve always wanted a hand up not a handout," Ms. Bennett said of the Métis in a telephone interview on Friday. "They are amazing in terms of their ambition and their ability in terms of creativity and innovation.”
And, as for a future self-government, she said that if Ottawa is allowing the dream of Riel to become a reality, then she is “glad to be part of that.”
When a self-government is created, Mr. Chartrand said, it could take over the provision of such things as social services and education for the Métis people, and it would allow the Métis to write and enforce many of their own laws..
But, most importantly, he said, it will mean that no future federal or provincial governments can take away Métis rights with the stroke of a pen. “Industry and governments,” Mr. Chartrand said, “will have to sit down with us in an equal forum.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story said a Supreme Court decision in 2016 said the Métis are non-status Indians under the Constitution. In fact, the ruling said they were Indians. This version has been corrected.