Clément Chartier: Metis National Council takes aim at ‘so-called Metis organizations’ | APTN F2F

[Music] good evening thank you for tuning in to face to face I'm your host Denis ward our guest this week is matey national council president claim on shark che president sure che is a lawyer writer lecturer and activist who has served many indigenous peoples organizations in 2003 he was elected president of the matey National Council and is currently serving his fourth term president Sharkey a real pleasure to have you here Oh on the fifth term fifth term sorry pleasure to have you here on on the show the matey National Council has recently held its General Assembly and one of the topics was of identity and identity theft being a big focus well why was this important for the matey national council to bring forward yes and thanks for the introduction I have served in many organizations but currently serve in the government of the matey nation and as a government we want to ensure that we know and people know who we are governing so I represent the historic matey nation based in Western Canada and identity is very important to us because historically when the term matey was used it was always in reference to the historic making nation in Western Canada and was a proper noun over the last thirty years or so in particularly the last few years it's starting to be used as an adjective to mean anybody of mixed ancestry you know and more like a dictionary definition and we need to resist that we need to let people know that the matey basically equates to the matey nation and so there are many people's now cropping up as I was saying you know throughout particularly eastern Canada you know who say we're matey and it's by the hundreds of thousands now and not only are they appropriating the term making nation to describe themselves as organisations as opposed to as a people they're also expropriating symbols like our matey nation flag so it's important that we make this clear and make a stand we recently had Daryl Rouen who was also a speech at the General Assembly it to talk very much about this and one of the things that we did talk about was the recent memorandum of understanding with the maytee National Council and the the McGraw Nation what were you what are you hoping to achieve with an MoU like that well basically it's to educate the Canadian public generally and also it's an alliance between not in lines but it's a relationship between the ming mahn nation and the main tea nation two distinct peoples and different parts of the country but respecting each other's sovereignty and the right to exist you know on the basis of self-determination and to our cultures respectively and basically you know they are being threatened by people who now purport to be matey based on whatever criteria they think you know they have the right to do that on some distant Indian ancestors perhaps and some not even that but deciding to call themselves matey so I know they're having a difficult time and well we can assist them in their struggle in terms of you know their nationhood and their their territory at the same time you know we can educate them about us and they're beginning to learn about us and and they know that we are you know a distinct people based in Western Canada what's the the struggle for the main tea nation with this rise of the so-called eastern matey well I think it's the perception in the public right now people are coming forward and saying well matey are just anybody of mixed ancestry something we worked for generations to try to overcome you know in the 80s we have to say no no there's the big m80 which is the media nation the little enmity those that are going by a strict dictionary definition of saying we're of mixed ancestry it makes more than these more than that to make a nation of people and we possess that in Western Canada we have a you know distinct Geographic homeland we have a population we have the language match if you know the political consciousness we've defended ourselves militarily as well and so we just need to get that out there and so people now coming forward particularly in eastern Canada and using these bogus cards to sell to the people that join their organizations you know using them to bilk you know sales people for you know cars or other pieces of machinery you know just it's negative it's towards the Miche nation towards the making true making people and I think it's starting to worth negative with respect to the memo as well because with the abuse of these cards people will start thinking you know well these make more cars are they also legitimate so it's it's something we need to address as we reported on this you know the you the meaty people self-identifying out there went from six hundred and some to tens of thousands but are we also seeing a huge increase here on the prairie provinces well yes actually there has been the making national council after years of consultation and 2002 adopted criteria of who can register as a citizen of the maytee nation and because of the progress we've made beginning actually in the 70s there were were people coming forward saying we're making some probably weren't but they did get services housing in education but now as of 2002 we have criteria fairly strict criteria and all our people have to re-register and that's the issue in ontario they're saying no no we're not going to register the people that we have signed up and so since we've also been winning hunting and fishing rights cases as you mentioned I'm a lawyer and I have actually been doing a maytee test case fishing and test test cases and in 1995 we won a substantial case in Northwest Saskatchewan and we upheld in court a Queen's Bench we've also won other cases and so as more of this is coming forward in terms of recognition of our rights and particularly since 1982 there are people coming forward now identifying as make you who never did before mm-hm and so it's happening within our nation's as well but if they can connect to a you know a historic matey community and can give the genealogy then we're saying all okay you know you may be coming a bit late and you know coming now but you do have that right if we do go is strictly by you know the descendants of the historic matey community but we are seeing new people's coming forward and some of them may not necessarily understand their culture and traditions but you know perhaps are willing to learn so it's happening to an extent in the prairies but definitely in Eastern Canada it's by the hundreds of thousands that are cropping up now and as I said we are on the heels of the sitting of the General Assembly and one of those things that came up was a resolution that looked at suspending the matey nation of Ontario based on its perceived acceptance of Nam 80 citizens and communities what's believed to have gone on here well when when we set up the making National Council March 8th of 1983 now actually I was the first national representative we didn't say president we stated very clearly our homeland basically its encompassed by the three prairie provinces extensive the northwestern Ontario northeastern BC part of Northwest Territories the United States and in 1994 we accepted the major nation of Ontario but based on that criteria based on that understanding but after that they basically have interpreted that in their own way and so now there's membership you know throughout Eastern Ontario that has no connection to the historic making nation and while we brought resolutions forward and saying you know you got to correct this you got to follow the 2002 criteria that our main key General Assembly adopted they in August of last year came forward with these six new matey communities declared by themselves and the government of Ontario and some of those most of those communities don't have any connection to the historic making nation at all so they're making it very clear and it's very much in our face yeah you know they're doing this so in December of last year I was given the mandate to initiate an examination of this issue in Ontario and I made my report and my recommendation one of them was to suspend the imagination of Ontario until they met certain conditions for readmission into our government and also I made a recommendation that we adopt a homeland map so it makes absolutely clear geographically where our homeland is and so those past but you know the major nation of Ontario of course didn't accept that imagination of Alberta supported them but we had enough votes from you know the matey in Manitoba Saskatchewan end but one or two from British Columbia that enables us to move forward so we're doing that we're moving forward and they have a year I have recommended suspension immediately the leadership in their wisdom said okay let's go with the suspension but let's give them one year of probation period of a year to meet the conditions for continuing representation you know or government so a year is pretty good the main key nation of Ontario president before that said all she needed was three to four months to come forward with the you know a legitimate list of making nation citizens so she actually has three times that amount of time so we're hoping that they will meet those conditions and will remain part of our governance system but for those that aren't citizens of the historic media nation then we're saying they have no right to be part you know of our government in terms of the historic Meiji nation so what does the the probation actually mean for those who are part of the maytee nation in Ontario well basically for the next year it's status quo they're given a year to come forward and do what they should have been doing you know over the past decade it's come forward with only those who are legitimate citizens of the historic mighty nation and we say that includes northwestern Ontario and those maytee nation citizens who have moved to the province of Ontario the same situation is in British Columbia many the majority of maytee in the province of Manitoba Columbia are from the prairie provinces either first generation or second generation but they are part of our governance system but they live outside of our homeland outside of Northwestern or northeastern British Columbia so there's room for them but they just have to be part of our nation so it's like the Cree saying to be part of the Cree Nation you you must be Cree if you're holding the Shoni then you can't belong to us you belong to the Houghton michonne II so what are you saying to be part of our people part of our governance system you have to be one of us if you're not one of us then sorry you have to you know look at some other way to represent yourselves yeah mentioned the the map of the maytee homeland and we're gonna talk about that in a second but I just have to throw to a quick break and then we'll be back to continue our conversation here on face to face welcome back to you face to face our guest this week is matey national council president Clamato che and as we mentioned president Archaea delegates at the General Assembly also approved a map of the mighty homeland why was this important to come forward and deal with well we've been giving descriptions of our homeland it was felt necessary that we put it on a map so that it's visual that you can actually see where our geographic territory is and so we've done that because now it's easier for us to say if you're not part of this Geographic homeland historically and if you've moved to other parts of the country in this case Ontario you're still eligible to be enrolled if you're in Quebec or it doesn't matter if you're in the Maritimes if you're part of the historic making nation and you had the right to be you know enrolled as a citizen of the major nation doesn't matter where you live so it was important for us to actually put it down so people can see this is where the homeland is and I know it it is a rather large area but the main tea nation did extend quite large geographically geographically in Western Canada because we were quite involved in the fur trade through the frating on the rivers and also through the car trails and we coexisted with the First Nations people to create the den a the the Soto and so on and so you know it's a coexistence and that's been recognized in lots been recognized historically and with us they dealt with us on an individual basis through this script process or lands under the Manitoba Act whereas the First Nations they dealt with First Nations with by treaty and dealt with them as a collective but for us they dealt with us as individuals I believe because they wanted to break our military strength our our cohesiveness as a people but it hasn't succeeded you know we're still here and so we don't claim all of this land as ours exclusively we say we coexist and have joint ownership with you know the various First Nations that also cover the same geographic territory and there has been a swift reaction to this map from many First Nations over because it is on treaty territory what do you say to some of that well I say that the treaty territories overlap our territory which is fine like I say it's coexistence no there's no one exclusive to the other and we will continue to be negotiating you know with respect to our land rights the court of the Supreme Court of Canada has affirmed that section 31 of the Manitoba Act where there was 1.4 million acres that was to have been transferred to the mate II was not done in the way that recognized the honour of the crown and for the rest of the maytee outside of that original posis stamp province they dealt with us through an amendment to the Dominion Land Act which saw a process of outright ownership these simple lands transferred to to maytee individuals or individually and that covers the three prairie provinces the Northwest Territories and so we're saying that was so fraudulent that we still have an extinguished Aboriginal title to these lands and resources in Western Canada and for First Nations they have the trees and they've had their reserves set aside from the treaties but we still have to be dealt with our Aboriginal title as far as we're concerned still big in Western Canada and it coexists with you know First Nations uh land rights one another thing from the sitting of the General Assembly cuz it was a busy one for you and that was to take whatever actions necessary including legal action to have quote so-called matey organizations cease from using the term matey and use in the use of the matey flag we've already received an email from the Congress of Aboriginal people saying that the maytee National Council does not own the matey flag no one owns the matey flag what's your response to that well basically we're not saying not to use the term matey we don't own that term what we're saying is the term matey nation for example in Nova Scotia there's at least two organizations that use the term making nation to describe their organization and the main t nation is not an organization the mighty nation is a people a distinct people based primarily in Western Canada and and depict it as you saw on our map mm-hmm and we're saying that they should not be using that terminology it's like the you know if the Megamall we're trying to call themselves the creek yeah they're not they're making and I'm not saying that these people calling themselves matey are actually matey just in an analogy and in terms of the mighty nation flag well that is a reflect our flag we first flew in battle in you know in 1816 you know we're to our two hundred and second an anniversary of our matey nation flag it's ours and we've took steps to protect it we have it as an official mark of the making nation government as well as a term ain't a nation we has that as an official mark of our mighty nation government and it's only governments that have the capacity to get OH official mark so we have those protected and we're going to at some point have to move on because again these so called matey nation organisations in eastern Canada you know when you see them on TV they're using our matey nation flag which is again giving a wrong impression to the committee public I mean it's they're not us and they shouldn't be using our flag it's like you know the government the United States or the government of Spain you know should shouldn't be out there you know carrying you know the Canadian flag it's not their flag they have their own and if they want one get their own whatever that may be but it's our flag leave it alone one of you are gonna be sitting down with Canada's First Minister's soon and one of the the big issues with the federal government is the the recognition and implementation of Rights framework that they've now hit the pause button on but the matey nation would still like to see this move ahead what is it about that framework that that you're in favor of well I I'm not sure if they put the pause button on that's not the impression I get that maybe it's slowed but the impression I get is they're still planning on proceeding with it we have experienced in the past that if it's only policy a change of government could also change that policy and that framework is to replace the comprehensive claims process policy and the 1995 in here and right implementation of the inherent right to self-government policy both of which don't benefit the making nation and in fact in 1981 then Minister of Justice John Ritchie wrote us letter saying that whatever Aboriginal rights in title we have had been extinguished and therefore cut off our Aboriginal rights research and so that was the end of the story there so we had no alternative but to go to the courts which is what the Manitoba matey Federation did at that particular time and so which we have to do in other parts of the homeland is well that's our only option right now we have a permanent bilateral mechanism process with the Prime Minister and we're hoping on a distinctions based approach First Nations Inuit and métis nation we're hoping that we get this framework agreement because it's going to entrench in legislation a process which will be a major benefit to the main tea nation if other nations don't want other indigenous nations don't want it because they feel comfortable with what they have and that's fine but we're saying we need it we want it and on a distinction based approach there's no reason why the federal government cannot proceed with respect to make a nation specific framework legislation present a short trade I'll have to hold you there for a second while we step aside for one more break and then we'll be back to continue the conversation here on face to face welcome back to face to face our guest this week is matey national council president Clemmie Sharkey and I'd like to talk a bit about the national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls it's coming to an end the women of the matey nation recently raised its concerns about the inquiry and in the statement you're quoted as saying and we're gonna bring it up here so I won't get into all of it but that it's unfortunate that the national inquiry on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls and its final report will not reflect the perspective of the matey nation and that from the matey nation point of view the anticipated report will in effect be a report on missing and murdered First Nations and Inuit women exclusively I guess maybe president Sharkey a little on why you feel that way well basically it's been the nature of inquiries and a nature of federal government initiatives for example the Indian Residential school settlement agreement we've been excluded I went to make you residential school for 10 years we're still excluded mm-hmm and we're excluded from all of these policies comprehensive claims and all of these you know this national inquiry basically I think people tend to discount the matey nation because we've been suppressed for so many years like over a hundred years we're just now coming into into the the political limelight so to speak and our issues are being dealt with and with this inquiry I think they discount that these things happen to matey people and in fact I'm very disappointed because I was actually looking forward to the opportunity to appear as an individual because my mother was brutalized and murdered and justice still hasn't been done but I didn't get that chance by I look for it but the the Commission the inquiry never contacted my office at all they did call me finally when they wanted an extension saying that Chief Commissioner would like to speak to you by phone I said okay we said a time no cholera came and I've been getting this same message from the women women of the mighty nation that they're really not being you know involved in the way that they should be so a lot of people have been missed out and we we didn't want to go at the end to some process where they're gonna say oh yeah but we did this for the media that make you were included so we just made the statement that look here's another instance where the main teen nation has not really been involved in a meaningful way we only have about a minute left here with a lot to talk about but when we're talking about exclusion and one of those things is the the 60 scoop settlement and maybe if you can for those who don't know the the meaty had been left out of that settlement maybe if you can give us in a 25 seconds an update on where that is for matey adoptees well okay I've asked President David Chartrand to lead this file we've had several meetings now when he reported today on it we're basically getting closer to I think a resolution working with ministers Philpott and Bennett we have some strong suggestions or indications that we're gonna move forward Minister Bennett would like to negotiate it politically rather than go to court so we feel confident president chargee thanks so much for taking the time to join us unfortunately we all are all out of time thank you you

Channel: APTN News

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Keywords: aptn face to face, clement chartier, dennis ward, metis, metis nation, eastern metis, rights, canada

Id: AqHAKL9IS8I

Length: 23min 56sec (1436 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 05 2018