(November 17, 2022) The Vice President of Métis Nation British Columbia (MNBC) says they are hoping to have a self-government agreement with the federal government within 18 months, and then admits it’s a dream.
In a rambling 20 minute address to the Métis National Council’s Annual General Assembly held in Vancouver in late October, the MNBC Vice President said, “We are hoping to have…our dream is to have this (self-government agreement) signed within the next 18 months.” He then admitted it might be abit ambitious.
Not only is it ambitious, it is also unrealistic given the length of time similar negotiations have taken with other Métis organizations. The federal government, after many months signed self-government agreements with three other Métis provincial organizations back in June 2019 that laid out the next steps to formally recognize Métis governments as Indigenous governments in Canadian law. The self-government agreements have many different parts dealing with everything from core governance areas such as citizenship and government operations to the application of Métis government laws and fiscal issues.
The former President of MNBC, Clara Morin Dal Col said, "These agreements are not simple documents and take months and months to negotiate, and you don't get anywhere by banging the table and making unrealistic demands."
Ms. Morin Dal Col said, "When I was a member of the former Métis leadership at the national level, we negotiated multiple agreements with the federal government that have brought in millions of federal dollars to MNBC each year which MNBC has been spending very freely. We negotiated the historic Canada-Métis Nation Accord and 7 different multi-year funding Sub-Accords with the federal government during my time as MNBC President, but under this group not a single new Sub-Accord has been negotiated."
Ms. Morin Dal Col also pointed out that as MNBC President she signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the federal minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Carolyn Bennett in July 2018 to start the ball rolling toward self-government by establishing a Recognition of Indigenous Rights and Self-Determination Table. She said, "It was the very first time that the federal government agreed to sit down with us in British Columbia to begin discussing some 17 different subject areas, and progress began to be made."
She added, "I am going to be watching very closely to see what unfolds in these latest so-called negotiations, if indeed, anything does."
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For further information:
Contact Clara Morin Dal Col
BC Métis Leader
Email: cmdalcol@gmail.com
How can they become a nation, when they can't run their club and supply their Metis with their funding, as it is. Fakes are what they are. Shame on them, what goes around, comes around, you will never be a Nation as no-one believes them and that is why , citizens are running to get home to the RR.Metis, they know who are working, for the Metis not themselves, I somehow don't believe they, will last 18 months to become a Nation.