BRITISH COLUMBIA MÉTIS FEDERATION Daniels v. Canada A DEMOCRATIC ALTERNATIVE FOR MÉTIS PEOPLE IN BC
PRESENTATION AGENDA 1. Introduction 2. Daniels v. Canada 3. Mixed responses to Supreme Court ruling 4. Membership response to Daniels Case 5. General Understandings 6. Conclusion 7. The BC Métis Federation Action Plan 2
INTRODUCTION Since 1982, how Métis think about their identity, their sense of place, and challenges of being Métis have been influenced by a number of key court rulings. Powley v. Canada (2003) The MMF (Manitoba Métis Federation) Case (Manitoba Métis Lands Case) decided by the Supreme Court of Canada on March 8, 2013 The Daniels v. Canada (Indian Affairs and Northern Development) decision, rendered on April 4, 2016 3
DANIELS V. CANADA The Daniels v. Canada (Indian Affairs and Northern Development) decision, rendered on April 4, 2016, significantly altered the legal landscape of Métis collective rights in Canada. The Court granted the first declaration, holding that Métis and non status Indians are Indians under section 91(24). The ruling opened up the question of Métis identity and appears to support the many ways of being Métis, and the well-being of multiple Métis Nations. In short, it extended the legal definition of Métis beyond the Powley Test and defined Métis as British North America Act s.91 (1867) Indians, or as collectives who have a direct Constitutional relationship with the Crown. 4
MIXED RESPONSES TO SUPREME COURT RULING The Daniels case brings Métis communities into conversation with broader legal discussions on the nation-to-nation relationship as defined in the historical treaty process. While the full importance of the decision has yet to be fully appreciated, response from the various Métis communities in Canada has been mixed. 5
Metis Lawyer Jean Teillet: Jean Teillet responded by stating that the Federal Court s use of Indianness based on self-identification and group recognition to define Métis is brutal and wrong in every way. She goes on to say that the Federal Court s judgment, which was upheld and extended by the SCC to include non-status and Métis who did not meet the Powley test, virtually erased the Métis nation. 6
Métis lawyer Bruce McIvor The decision is out of step with the aspirations of most Indigenous Peoples in Canada and around the world. Rather than seeking confirmation of the Crown s jurisdiction over them, Indigenous Peoples are striving to achieve recognition of their own jurisdiction. In the end, I m left wondering what the Métis who fought and died resisting Canada s exercise of jurisdiction over them would make of the Daniels decision. 7
Métis academic and Eastern Métis advocate Sebastian Malette: In other words...a Métis person is free to choose the communal organization that best represents his or her interest from a regional perspective (based upon mutual acceptance), and should not be pressured at the expense of losing the recognition of their Indigenous identity to join the membership of any external political organization that could trump the ability of local communities to control and exercise their selfdetermination rights. 8
Since the Daniels decision which opened up the possibility for other forms of Métis recognition, the politicization of Métis identity has moved towards the extreme. Exclusive claims have been made on constitutionally and legally defined Métis identity from national and provincial Métis organizations representing the interests of the Red River or homeland Métis. The result has been polarized debates and high stakes identity politics. A worrying trend for British Columbia s self-determined Métis communities is the embattled contest for a single Métis history, a war currently being waged in academia, the courts and popular culture, especially in Eastern Canada. 9
MEMBERSHIP RESPONSE TO DANIELS CASE BCMF conducted an initial survey of members. There was a consensus among the respondents that Métis organizations have a responsibility to actively engage with the Crown. Several respondents argued that the Supreme Court s statements on Métis diversity should be addressed by Métis organizations. The respondents agreed that Canada cannot ignore the Supreme Court s decision and Canada must engage with all Métis groups equally and openly. The vast majority of respondents stated that they were not satisfied with the federal programs and services available to Métis people. 10
GENERAL UNDERSTANDINGS All three of these cases including the Daniels ruling illustrate well the great divide between how Métis themselves understand their self-identity and how the state infringes on their self-determination. It might be difficult for any court decision, whether understood as adversarial or sympathetic, to adequately reflect the complexity, fluidity and mobility of the many different ways of being Métis in BC. 11
CONCLUSION There is no consensus on how this will shape framework for Metis existence in BC. It is unclear how the collective right to selfdetermination as represented by the many different ways of being Métis in British Columbia will be recognized, affirmed and operationalized. This is evident in the difficulties of Métis rights claimants in British Columbia, where misconceptions about Métis history and traditional use areas have resulted in courts questioning the existence of historic Métis communities in the province. 12
As legal academic scholar, Kerry Sloan recently stated: Métis ideas of territory are complex, varied and often not well understood. Métis perspectives on intersections of territory and community are likewise not appreciated by Canadian courts. The challenge for Métis in establishing a legal relationship with the Canadian state has not been a lack of their own sense of self or a lack of confidence in their unique self-determination as a community; it has been the propensity of the Canadian state to define for Métis how they will be identified and represented! 13
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THE BC MÉTIS FEDERATION ACTION PLAN 1. To negotiate programs and services with the federal government. 2. To advocate and maintain a 'nation to nation' relationship with other Indigenous nations and the Government of Canada. 3. To negotiate coexistence with Canada and protection of historical difference based on the concept of mutual recognition. 15
We seek to wisely engage all Métis nations, governments, industry, First Nations and Inuit, and Canadians in a hope-filled dialogue. This means an "Assembly of Métis Nations" approach that recognizes the cultural capacity, the intellectual resources, and the historic imagination that will be required to relate to each other in a 'pluralistic association' that makes possible the well-being of all self-determining Indigenous Nations. 16
Questions? 17
BRITISH COLUMBIA MÉTIS FEDERATION Knowledge Partnership Project A DEMOCRATIC ALTERNATIVE FOR MÉTIS PEOPLE IN BC
1. Introduction 2. Goals 3. Project Report PRESENTATION AGENDA a) Research b) Findings c) Recommendations 4. The BC Métis Federation Action Plan 19
INTRODUCTION This project aims to address the erasure of Métis history in what is now known as the Province of British Columbia. Little research has been conducted on Métis communities in what has become known as the Province of British Columbia (BC). Jean Barman, a leading historian and scholar in their Way Beyond the West, states: generations of [mixed blood] men and women were simply erased from a provincial history being constructed in line with society s aspirations for it. 20
In other words, the partnerships formed during one hundred years of interactions between newcomers and Indigenous peoples, a unique society in its own right, was not seen to fit to be included in progressive Canadian historical accounts. Self-determined Métis communities generated by the longstanding economic interaction between Indigenous nations, who had existed in the region since time immemorial, and newcomers, who approached from land and sea to trade manufactured goods for the region s rich resources, were written out of the Province s story. Rich histories, traditions and practices of Métis communities have been ignored, forgotten or lost to the detriment of mainstream British Columbian society. 21
THE PRIMARY GOALS OF THIS STUDY WERE 1. To identify place-based Métis communities that have their kinship ties in whole or in part within the Province of British Columbia, and: 2. Explore how Métis in British Columbia understand their own history with consideration given to their diverse and fluid ways of knowing, their selfidentification and community memberships, and their culture, language and traditions. 3. Establish a comprehensive framework for an ongoing, dynamic Métis knowledge network Work Plan. 22
4. Create pathways for members who have been disenfranchised to repatriate to communities. 5. Begin the process of building knowledge networks that will enable Métis communities/nations to build knowledge capacity. 6. Suggest ways in which the objectives of Canada s nation-wide call for reconciliation and the purposes of specific UNDRIP criteria are accomplished through knowledge partnerships as they are implemented in the future. 23
BC MÉTIS FEDERATION KNOWLEDGE PARTNERSHIP PROJECT REPORT 24
RESEARCH Three main questions guided this research 1. Are there self-determined recognizable "placebased Métis communities in BC? 2. How do self-identified Métis represent themselves and their ways of being? 3. What are the challenges and hopes of the many ways being Métis in BC? 25
Survey participants In total, 107 participants (members, the age of majority, randomly selected) responded to a standard data collection survey over a data collection period of 10 days. 26
Three primary place-based groups could be identified in the data: 1. Those that find their roots in family and kinship networks within the province itself; 2. Those that reside in BC but trace their Métis heritage to Manitoba or Saskatchewan in addition to having significant community links in BC; 3. Those individuals whose kinship ties have been severed or whose community links have faded and wish to repatriate into a Métis lifeway. 27
FINDINGS That clearly defined Métis communities existed, and continue to exist, in BC. That recognizing and affirming these communities requires a flexible and expansive definition of Métis to account for their many ways of representing who they are Contested identities, loss of culture and personhood, systemic discrimination and persistent racism, and erasure in the official historical record contribute to the difficult task of recognizing, reconstituting and repatriating Métis peoples. 28
RECOMMENDATIONS The establishment and funding of a BCMF Knowledge Partnership research division. Creation of an archival database of Métis knowledge in BC. Inventory and repository of key resources to facilitate access. Networking site, workshops, information to enable and expand connectedness. Capacity for ongoing negotiation of expanding knowledge partnerships for self-identification and self-determination. 29
THE BC MÉTIS FEDERATION ACTION PLAN Using a community-based and membership approach the BC Métis Federation has been holding a series of local community-based events with a focus on reconciliation and celebration of local culture. Through group and individual interviews, the BC Métis Federation will gain deepened understanding of local needs for reconciliation. The results of this project will provide the basis for locally relevant and strategic reconciliation efforts between BC Métis Federation members and ensure inclusion for all Métis people within the Province of BC. 30
Questions? 31