Carney tells Métis leaders Indigenous rights are 'at the core' of major projects law
PM says he spoke with Manitoba Métis Federation president by phone after MMF refused to attend
Prime Minister Mark Carney told Métis leaders on Thursday their voices will be heard and rights respected as the Liberal government implements its legislation to fast-track major projects deemed to be in the national interest.
As he opened a small summit in Ottawa, Carney said for too long economic and public policy decisions were made without listening to Métis voices. But "we're listening now," he added.
"Respecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples is at the core of the Building Canada Act. It's embedded in the law itself," Carney said inside the Centre for Geography and Exploration at 50 Sussex Drive, along the Ottawa River.
"This law requires meaningful consultation with Indigenous Peoples both in the process of determining which projects are in the national interest and in the development of the conditions for each project."
Indigenous Peoples have raised concerns about the legislation potentially being used to sidestep environmental protections and ignore their rights in the name of cutting red tape. Thursday's meeting is the last of three called this summer aimed at easing their fears.
A summit with First Nations leaders last month ended with some optimism but for most the questions remained. At their meeting, Inuit leaders were reassured the law won't breach their modern treaties.
As Thursday's summit concluded, federal ministers called the conference fruitful and Métis leaders struck a supportive tone with no suggestion of opposition.
"I support this 100 per cent," Métis Nation-Saskatchewan President Glen McCallum told CBC Indigenous.
"As long as we're negotiating and we're communicating, being consulted properly in a timely way, I have no problem."
Echoing the feeling was President Dave Lamouche of the Métis Settlements General Council, the central government for eight Métis settlements in Alberta, as he left the building.
"I think we had a very productive and positive meeting. We sense that all Métis leaders are supporting the Build Canada bill," he said, calling the summit a good start.
In his speech, Carney acknowledged the Métis Nation's contributions to Canada as traders and voyageurs who helped forge the budding country's original trade networks.
"In some respects our task today is part of a process of creating new trade networks, new forms of commerce in Canada, both with full recognition this time of Métis contributions and full Métis access to the opportunities and the prosperity that this building will create," he said.
However, the summit is happening amid a boycott by Manitoba Métis leaders and concerns from other groups who weren't even invited.
Loretta Waquan, president of Fort McKay Métis Nation, 420 kilometres north of Edmonton, was frustrated she wasn't invited.
Her community is in the heart of the oilsands and is the first Métis collective in Alberta to establish the "credible assertion" of its Indigenous rights, meaning they must be consulted on resource development projects.
"We are in the heart of the industry. We should have been number one on the list, being that we are credibly asserted. We should have been notified," she said by phone Thursday afternoon.
"If they want to move fast on this Bill C-5, we need to be consulted, and we need to be consulted in the right way."
PM spoke with MMF leader
At the Château Laurier hotel on Wednesday, the Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) denounced the Liberal government's inclusion of the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO), a group the federation has accused of Indigenous identity theft.
David Chartrand, president of MMF, the federally recognized government of the Red River Métis, told reporters the door remains open to meet but if Carney wants to "insult us, then we'll see each other in a different political realm."
The prime minister seemed unbothered as he walked into the meeting Thursday.
"I had a very good conversation with President Chartrand last night. We've had good engagement directly with the Manitoba Métis and that will continue," he told reporters.
The Métis Nation British Columbia (MNBC) also refused to attend after it was only invited to participate as an online observer. Independent Métis communities weren't invited either.
Canada invited the four Métis groups with signed self-government agreements: Otipemisiwak Métis Government (OMG) in Alberta, Métis Nation-Saskatchewan (MN-S), MMF and MNO.
Media weren't allowed into the meeting room but copies of some Métis leaders' opening remarks provided to CBC Indigenous suggest a collaborative mood inside.
"Let me be clear, the Métis Nation within Alberta is not here to slow down major projects, we are here to help get them done," reads OMG President Andrea Sandmaier's opening remarks.
MNO President Margaret Froh's opening speech stressed that the Supreme Court of Canada in 2003 unanimously affirmed the existence of a rights-bearing Métis community in and around Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
"Prime minister, the MNO and the Métis communities we represent look forward to working with your government to implement the act," reads Froh's speech.
Both leaders echoed the sentiment afterward in a scrum with reporters, and Froh dismissed MMF's arguments about identity as revisionist.
"Unfortunately a new narrative has been put forward by the Manitoba Métis Federation that they are the only Métis government representing Métis people," Froh said, calling the narrative "false."
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