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On February 24, 2023, the Government of Canada and the M\u00e9tis Nation of Ontario (\u201cMNO\u201d) signed the M\u00e9tis Government Recognition and Self-Government Implementation Agreement (\u201cthe Agreement\u201d).<\/p>\nOn February 24, 2023, the Government of Canada and the M\u00e9tis Nation of Ontario (\u201cMNO\u201d) signed the M\u00e9tis Government Recognition and Self-Government Implementation Agreement (\u201cthe Agreement\u201d).<\/p>\n
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Robinson Huron Waawiindamaagewin (\u201cRHW\u201d) challenges the historical existence of distinct \u201cM\u00e9tis\u201d communities in the Robinson-Huron Treaty territory and, as such, commissioned a study led by Dr. Celeste Pedri-Spade (McGill University) and Dr. Darryl Leroux (University of Ottawa).\u00a0 The report, \u2018An Exploratory Study of M\u00e9tis Nation of Ontario\u2019s \u201cHistoric M\u00e9tis Communities\u201d in Robinson-Huron Treaty Territory,\u2019 uncovered how the MNO\u2019s poor research practices actively omitted historical data that calls into question their interpretation of \u201cverified M\u00e9tis family lines.\u201d\u00a0 For example, the MNO has identified individuals as \u201cM\u00e9tis\u201d even when individuals are consistently recorded as First Nation, which contradicts their stated approach.\u00a0 The report has documented hundreds of times that the MNO engaged in such misleading practices, proving the fatal flaws in creating \u201cM\u00e9tis communities\u201d in Robinson Huron Treaty territory.<\/p>\n
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Chief Adam Pawis states: \u201cThe research utilized by MNO for the McLeod-Riel M\u00e9tis family line claims an RHW Anishinaabe family as a basis for M\u00e9tis membership.\u00a0 All the evidence surrounding this family points to their identity as Anishinaabe, not M\u00e9tis\u201d.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe settler government of Canada and the MNO are attempting to push legislation through which will culminate with the signing of a \u201cmodern-day treaty\u201d that will encroach upon the rights of RHW and its citizens. This fast-tracked push is an affront to the unextinguished rights and jurisdictions of RHW. We cannot sit idly by while the settler government continues to discuss and deal with groups claiming indigenous ancestry without our consent,\u201d stated Chief Dean Sayers.<\/p>\n
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“The MNO currently has 31,000 members, a 55% increase since 2020.\u00a0Most of its members are tied to one of the\u00a0\u201cM\u00e9tis\u00a0communities\u201d in our territory,\u00a0further impacting the rights of RHW communities and their members. Aside from the\u00a0findings in Drs.\u00a0Pedri-Spade and\u00a0Leroux\u2019s report, by the\u00a0MNO\u2019s own standards, over\u00a05,000 of its members do not meet their membership criteria. RHW disagrees that the settler government of Canada can enter into these agreements, legislation and treaties with a group that has not demonstrated through sound research the legal existence of distinct M\u00e9tis communities in our territory.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe Anishinabek have not given the M\u00e9tis any rights and do not recognize any MNO communities or any rights that the Crown may give them. It is contrary to our understanding of who can give those rights, which is the Anishinabek; and not the Crown or government,\u201d stated Ogimaa-kwe Linda Debassige.<\/p>\n
\u201cCanada is seeking to delegate rights to the M\u00e9tis when they are, in fact, in receipt of a delegated authority to be on RHW lands.\u00a0 Delegating rights to the MNO with dubious ancestral claims violates their Treaty promise.\u00a0 They do not have the right to delegate any rights to the MNO. That contemplation should come from RHW,\u201d stated Chief McLeod.<\/p>\n
The Wabun Tribal Council applied for judicial review of the MNO\u2019s Agreement in March 2023.\u00a0 The application for judicial review states that the MNO Agreement recognizes communities that may be unable to pass the M\u00e9tis rights test established by Canada\u2019s Supreme Court in R. v. Powley.<\/em> RHW supports the position taken by the Wabun Tribal Council.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Canada must cease this practice and directly deal with the original rights-holders of this land.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On February 24, 2023, the Government of Canada and the M\u00e9tis Nation of Ontario (\u201cMNO\u201d) signed the M\u00e9tis Government Recognition and Self-Government Implementation Agreement (\u201cthe Agreement\u201d). Robinson Huron Waawiindamaagewin …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":60634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indigenous"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-16 02:00:43","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60640"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60643,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60640\/revisions\/60643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}