Tony Belcourt's Blogs

Know OUR History – Part 3 Hunting season is upon us. The Metis fought long and hard to get the recognition of their right to hunt and fish for food. It took a long 10 year battle in the courts with the Ontario Government in a case called R v. Powley. We were victorious at the Supreme Court of Canada in 2003 and today, 15 years later we are grateful to Steve Powley and his family for their sacrifice and commitment to having our rights recognized. The plans to get to that point were cemented at the Metis Nation of Ontario's Founding Delegates Assembly in Toronto in May 1994. Attached is a link to the discussion we had at that historic gathering. Tony Belcourt September 22, 2018 https://soundcloud.com/tony-belcourt/metis-harvesting-rights-part-1

Know OUR History – Part 2 The Métis Nation of Ontario’s Founding Delegates Assembly was held in Toronto on May 4-7, 1994 at the Town Inn.  We had approximately 100 delegates from throughout Ontario.  Before the kickoff of the Assembly we held a working group meeting of Métis seniors and elders.  What took place was a discussion on the terminologies of seniors, elders and senators; how we decided on the number of Senators to be on the PCMNO; how we decided the structure and how the PCMNO was appointed and the Senators were chosen.  The session, in fact all of the proceedings of this important meeting were taped. I’m breaking down those tapes into smaller segments by subject. Here is a link to the tape of that session with seniors and elders. https://soundcloud.com/tony-belcourt/discussion-with-senators-and-elders-may-4-1994-town-inn Tony Belcourt September 16, 2018

Know OUR History - Part 1 By Tony Belcourt In its report to the 2018 Annual General Assembly, the MNO reported that according to the research done so far, almost 40% of MNO citizens lacked the  documents it says are now needed in the MNO Registry. The MNO reports that it has 18,000 citizens in the Registry. Does the MNO intend to remove up to 7,200 of those citizens? The MNO has a process underway to remove elected members of its Councils if they don't have documentation it says it needs (even though all of them have previously been verified in order to run in the first place). Does it intend to remove up to 100 of its 286 elected members of the Councils (PCMNO; Community Councils; Youth; Veterans)? What the current leadership of the MNO is doing is cold-hearted.  It is turning its back on the people who made the MNO possible in the beginning.  Except for a very small number on the PCMNO, none were around in the days when building the...