The voice of the Métis rose many times in our past, the most famous occasions being led by Louis Riel during the Métis resistance at Red River, Manitoba in 1869-70 and again at the Battle of Batoche, Saskatchewan in 1885. Earlier in Manitoba, the Métis resisted attempts to limit their ability to hunt, which led to the Battle of Seven Oaks in 1816[2]. And again in 1849 when the Métis resisted the Hudson’s Bay monopoly on trade and after the trial of Guillame Sayer[3] they cried out “Le commerce est libre; vive la liberté!”. Co-incidentally during this period, the Métis at Sault Ste. Marie Ontario stole canon from the Fort and pointed it at the Mica Bay miners declaring that they had no right to be there – a stand that led to the Robinson Huron Treaty in 1850.
But after those heady times in the 1800’s, and especially after the hanging of Louis Riel in 1885, the profile of the Métis largely disappeared accept to some degree in Manitoba through the efforts of the Union Nationale Métisse Saint-Joseph du Manitoba which had its roots with the involvement of Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont at Batoche in 1884. Riel had chosen Saint Joseph as their patron saint. The Union Nationale’s key purpose was to “restore Métis pride and thus create meaning of their identity”[4],
The people were in poverty and landless but until the 1930’s were no longer speaking up publically. In 1932, led by Joseph Dion, Jim Brady, Malcolm Norris and Peter Tompkins Jr., they formed “L’Association des Métis d’Alberta et des Territories des Nord Ouest”, also known as the Métis Association of Alberta (MAA). “The aims of the organization were to persuade the government to reserve land for the Métis, lobby for education and health care services, and request free hunting, fishing, and trapping licenses.”[5]
Their political pressure led the Government of Alberta to establish a “Royal Commission on the Condition of the Halfbreed People of the Province of Alberta”[6] in 1934, better known as the Ewing Commission, chaired by Albert Ewing. In 1936 the commission recommended that land settlements be established under certain conditions:
The areas selected should contain a reasonable amount of good agricultural land, access to timber, fish, access to markets, capable of enlargement, and free from interference by non-Aboriginal settlers. The title to the land would remain with the provincial crown. The colony would be under the supervision of a government-appointed inspector, who would have the powers of a police magistrate. The allotment of the land would be a privilege for suitable Métis applicants. Those who did not join, however, could not claim any form of public assistance. The commissioners did recognize one right accruing to the Métis “as the original inhabitants of these great unsettled areas”: preferential access to fur, fish, and game. They recommended that free permits be granted and that non-resident commercial operators should be regulated. Schools and hospitals would be opened on the settlements with access to all residents.
In 1940, the government passed the Métis Population Betterment Act, legislation for the governance of the Métis settlements (eight exist today). Although these settlements gave a land base and some security to some Métis people, they did not accommodate the needs of the vast majority of the Métis population, which remained landless.
Brady and Norris were much involved in organizing throughout Saskatchewan as well. In 1937 the Métis of that province formed the Métis Society of Saskatchewan (later to become the Association of Métis and Non-Status Indians of Saskatchewan.) The Manitoba Métis Federation was formed n 1967 under the leadership of Adam Cuthand. In Ontario, Patrick (Paddy) McGuire and his family and other Métis formed the Lake Nipigon Métis Association.
In the late 1960’s, when I was involved with the Métis Association of Alberta, I was as preoccupied as anyone with the pressing issues of our people at the time: poverty, bias and other issues in the justice system, poor health, lack of education and lack of housing. But there was also a nagging issue entrenched in the back of my mind, “get our land back son, get our land back” – an exhortation I first heard around the campfires at Lac Ste. Anne as I was growing up and that my dad had so often repeated after I was elected Vice-President of the MAA in 1970.
Although there was come crown lands set aside in the eight Métis settlements, that was of no consequence to people like us at Lac Ste. Anne or the other communities throughout Alberta. Lac Ste. Anne was our homeland. We had no intention of being moved by the government. We wanted a land base of our own in our own communities. Having researched some of the history surrounding the treaty making process in our area I was convinced that if we were to get recognition of our land rights, we would need to get it from the federal government, not Alberta.
Stan Daniels was the President of the MAA at the time and had been involved in the National Indian Council in the 60’s. He knew the other leaders and after some urging by me, he agreed to call them together to talk about setting up a lobby with Ottawa.
We met in Victoria, B.C. on November 7, 1970 during the second 2nd annual assembly of the BC Association of Non-Status Indians (BCANSI). Present were:
· Butch Smitheram, President of BCANSI
· Harry Lavallee, Vice-President of BCANSI
· Stan Daniels, President, MAA
· Tony Belcourt, Vice-President, MAA,
· Howard Adams, President, Saskatchewan Métis Society (SMS
· Jim Sinclair, Vice-President, SMS
· Angus Spence, President Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF)
There were two important motions passed at that meeting[7]:
Tony Belcourt moved that the four western province presidents meeting here today form a provisional national body and that this body should set the priorities for immediate action in setting up a National Organization of Métis and Non Status Indians (seconded by Harry Lavallee, carried unanimously)
Stan Daniels moved that Tony Belcourt be named Co-ordinator (sic) for the purpose of securing funds and making necessary arrangements for a National Métis Council meeting in Ottawa within the next few months. (seconded by Angus Spence, carried unanimously)
This set the stage for cooperation between the organizations and a number of ad hoc meetings to follow. Somewhere along the way, Stan Daniels decided that we should act immediately to set up a permanent organization and not operate through a provisional committee. We had secured the funds to hold a meeting and one was called to take place in Ottawa on February 7, 1971. Present at that meeting were:
· Butch Smitheram, President, BCANSI
· Harry Lavallee, Vice-President, BCANSI
· Stan Daniels, President, MAA
· Tony Belcourt, Vice-President, MAA
· Jim Sinclair, President, SMS
· Ray Hamilton, Board Member, SMS
· Angus Spence, President, MMF
· Guy Lavallee, Vice-President, MMF
The guests in attendance were:
· Pat McGuire, President, Nipigon Red Rock Métis Association
· Pat (Mike) McGuire, President, Lake Nipigon Métis Association
· James Washie, President, Indian Brotherhood of the NWT
· Ed Bird, Indian Brotherhood of the NWT
· Willie Dunne, Montreal
· Ted Oliver, ARDA
· June Fleming, Secretary
I was asked to Chair the meeting. At one point Stan Daniels made this statement:
Mr. Daniels mentioned that up until this time the Council was only Provisional and this should not be so anymore. He said that the Council should be the "Native Council of Canada", rather than provisional. He stated further that the council should be a definite thing.
A motion to no longer be a “provisional” committee was adopted and the meeting then turned to the setting up of By-laws. Butch Smitheram had come prepared with draft bylaws that were tabled and were discussed one by one. Once that process was completed, it was time to call for nominations to fill the three newly created positions of President, Vice-President and Secretary-Treasurer.
To my utter surprise Stan Daniels nominated me for President. I gasped when I heard it and he kicked me so hard under the table to keep quite that I had a bruise for days. I had fully expected that Stan would be the logical person to head up this new organization. After all, he was the one that was best known and had the most experience. Little did I know at the time that all along, he had planned this because he didn’t want to move to Ottawa and he wanted me out of the province. Having run against Stan in the recent MAA election, he just didn’t want me around as a potential future challenger to his leadership ever again.
Those nominated for the executive and who were elected were:
· For President, Tony Belcourt (elected), Guy Lavallee (nominated)
· For Vice-President, Guy Lavallee (acclaimed)
· For Secretary-Treasurer, Stan Daniels (acclaimed)
On the strength of a $10,000 loan from the MAA I moved my family to Ottawa in June. We were immediately able to have meetings with various federal cabinet Ministers and obtained approval of core-funding for all of our organizations. We played a role in securing programs for Native court workers, friendship centers, badly needed funds for an emergency housing repair program and a commitment to build 50,000 new homes within 5 years.
Ten years following the formation of the Native Council of Canada, we were included in Canada’s new constitution. And with all credit to the demands by Harry Daniels, who had later succeeded me as NCC President, the Métis were specifically mentioned as one of the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada, whose existing treaty and aboriginal rights were to be recognized and affirmed.
As a consequence of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms entranced in Canada’s new constitution the federal government passed Bill C-31, an act to remove discrimination in the Indian Act on the basis of sex. This paved the way for Indian women and their children, who had previously been removed from status to regain their status. This was the goal of those non-status Indian men and women who were represented by the NCC at the time.
Although in the 1980’s and 1990’s we had great success in gaining new funds, policies, programs and services for our people, we were not successful in getting the federal government to accept that it had any jurisdictional responsibility for the Métis. Nor did they or the provincial governments recognize our treaty and aboriginal rights. Harry Daniels, as President of the NCC finally launched a court case on the question of federal responsibility for the Métis and in the 1990’s, the Métis Nation of Ontario backed Steve and Roddy Powley in their defense of the Métis right to hunt and fish for food. We had great success in that case ( R v. Powley) which led to the seminal unanimous decision by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2003[8] that Métis rights were an existing constitutional right. In 2017, in the case of Daniels v. Canada, another great success: the federal government unequivocally had jurisdiction for the Métis under S 91 (24) of Canada’s constitution of 1869.
In 2019, the federal government signed a Métis Recognition and Self Government Agreement with the Métis Nation Alberta, Métis Nation Saskatchewan and the Métis Nation of Ontario[9]. An agreement[10] with the same objectives was also signed with the Manitoba Métis Federation.
We’ve come a long way in the 50 years since we first established a beachhead for the Métis in Ottawa. Sadly, with the exception of some progress in Manitoba resulting from the Supreme Court of Canada case of Manitoba Métis Federation Inc. v. Canada[11], we have yet to obtain our goal of getting our land back. Let’s hope it doesn’t take another 50 years!
Tony Belcourt
February 17, 2021
[1] MAA 861 1 Métis Association of Alberta Fonds – Glenbow Institute
[2] The Métis Skirmish at Seven Oaks - Gabriel Dumont Institute http://www.Métismuseum.ca/media/document.php/03153.theskirmishsevenoaks.pdf
[3] The Sayer Trial at Red River Establishing Métis Free Trade - Gabriel Dumont Institute http://www.Métismuseum.ca/resource.php/11978
[4] Union Nationale Métisse Saint-Joseph du Manitoba – Gabriel Dumont Institute http://www.Métismuseum.ca/resource.php/148259
· [5] “No other weapon except organization”: The Métis Association of Alberta … An article of the journal Journal of the Canadian Historical Association / Revue de la Société historique du Canada Volume 24, Issue 2, 2013, p. 311–352 https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/jcha/2013-v24-n2-jcha01408/1025081ar/
[6] ibid
[7] Minutes of Provincial Presidents and Representatives – November 7, 1970; personal records of Tony Belcourt
Note: Minutes of NCC Founding Meeting of February 7, 1971 are: MAA 1 1, Metis Association of Alberta Fonds, Glenbow Institute
[8] https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/2076/index.do
[9] https://www.canada.ca/en/crown-indigenous-relations-northern-affairs/news/2019/06/historic-self-government-agreements-signed-with-the-Métis-nation-of-alberta-the-Métis-nation-of-ontario-and-the-Métis-nation-saskatchewan.html
[10] https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/manitoba-Métis-federation-and-government-of-canada-announce-joint-action-plan-on-advancing-reconciliation-694047101.html
_______________________________________________
TONY BELCOURT, O.C., LL.D. (Hon.)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-belcourt-o-c-ll-d-hon-10696417/
Born in the historic Métis community of Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta, Tony Belcourt’s career spans 50 years of experience and significant achievement in Indigenous affairs, the corporate, government and not-for-profit sectors. During this period he founded, led and served on the boards of numerous local, regional, national and international Indigenous organizations including as founding president of the Native Council of Canada (1971-74), the Métis Nation of Ontario (1993-2008) and the Indigenous Commission for Communications Technologies in the Americas (2005- 2010). As Métis Nation Ambassador for International Issues he participated in numerous international meetings of the United Nations and the Organization of American States, including negotiations on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Belcourt is carried by the Pipe and is regarded as an Elder by many throughout the Indigenous community. In 2006, he received a National Aboriginal Achievement Award for public service. He received an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Lakehead University in 2010 and in 2013 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.
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