Métis in Alberta

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Métis in Alberta are Métis people, descendants of mixed First Nations/native Indian and white/European families, who live in the Canadian province of Alberta. The Métis are considered an aboriginal group under Canada's Constitution Act 1982 and make up a separate and distinct from the First Nations (though they live in the same regions and have cultural similarities), and have different legal rights. In Alberta, unlike in the rest of Canada, Métis people have negotiated certain lands to be reserved for them, known today as the Eight Metis Settlements (Metis Betterment Act 1938). These Metis Settlements Federated in 1975 to protect existing Metis Settlement lands following the Alberta Governments dissolution, by Order-In-Council of four Metis Settlements from 1950-1960. Following legal challenges by the Federation of Metis Settlements in 1975 for the lose of natural resource against Alberta, the Crown in Right of Alberta settled out of court for a suite of legislation that would see self-government, land, and money transferred to the newly formed government of the Metis Settlements General Council (MSGC), Canada’s only Metis self-govenernment. The Metis Settlements General Council is the legislator of the Federation of Metis Settlements. MSGC is the second largest land owner in the Province of Alberta.

Metis settlements flag

History

Métis history in Alberta begins with the fur trade in North America. The Métis developed as a people by the interactions of European fur trading agents and First Nations communities. From 1670 to 1821 the Métis populations grew regionally, typically around fur-trading posts of the North-West and Hudson's Bay companies.^[1] For example, Fort Edmonton spawned a large Métis population that was involved in an annual buffalo hunt for many years.^[2] These Métis helped to establish the nearby settlements of Lac Ste. Anne (1844),^[3] St. Albert (1861),^[4] Lac La Biche (1853), and St. Paul de Métis (1890).^[5] The Hudson's Bay Company's land-claim in the west (called Rupert's Land) was sold to the newly formed Dominion of Canada with the passing of the British North-America Act (Canadas founding Consitution, 1867) The sale of the Hudsons Bay Companies claimed territory in 1869/70 officially ended its legal monopoly on the fur trade (not enforced since the trail of Métis trapper Guillaume Sayer in 1849). The fur-trade was an economic boom for the Métis as it opened the fur and buffalo meat trades to private Métis and non-Metis traders; however, it also exposed them to a flood of European and Canadian colonists seeking to profit and disenfranchise the Metis from their lands. Metis living closer to Canadian occupied territory such as the Red River Métis, today in parts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, took up arms against the Canadian government in the two failed Riel Rebellions (or "Riel Resistances", 1869 and 1885) in an attempt to assert their rights in the face of the newcomers. Following the Rebellions, some Red River Metis fled north-west, married into the Northwest Metis populations of northern Alberta (formerly known as the Distict of Athabaska, North-West Territories) or assimilated into surrounding Euro-Canadian society. The end of these rebellions combined with the collapse of the fur and buffalo meat industries forced many Albertan Métis off their lands and reduced them to critical levels of poverty. On the whole, the Métis cultures and communities survived with farming, ranching, fishing and industry replacing their traditional economy of fur-trading as the main economic activity in the Parkland Belt, though trapping and hunting have remained very important in the Rocky Mountain and Boreal Forest regions. More urban Metis who live in close proximity to other cultural groups may have intermarried and assimilated into mainstream Euro-Albertan society to the point that their descendants no longer recognize themselves as Métis. However, in much of northern Alberta, the Métis in more remote rural and isolated communities have remained culturally distinct. Many of the contemporary Metis Settlement population have retained their unique cultural heritage and history due to land-grants provided by King George V by way of the Metis Population Betterment Act of 1938.

In the early 20th century, as a response to Métis dispossession and impoverishment following the collapse of the fur-trade and marginalization of Metis/Halfbreeds by the newly dominate Canadian Society, Métis political organization, dormant since the Riel Rebellions, was revived in the mid-late 1920s, by a number of competing organizations such as the Half-Breed Association, the Métis Association, and the Half-breed Association of Northern Alberta. In 1932, a lasting and successful organization was founded following large half-breed gatherings in Frog Lake and Fishing Lake. These gatherings were organized by grassroots leaders such as Charles Delores and Dieudonne Collins. These men would call on the expertise of a local enfranchised Indian named Joesepf Dion of the Kehiwin Cree Nation (20 km from the former St. Paul Des Metis). The lasting organization would be known as "L’Association des Métis d’Alberta et les Territories du Nord-Ouest" by Malcolm Norris, Jim Brady, Peter Tomkins, Joseph Dion and Felix Calliou (the Métis "famous five"); this organization would fight for the recognition and formal establishment of the Metis Settlements. The Famous Five would go on to pressure the Government of Alberta on behalf of the Metis populations for a protected homeland, the Metis settlements. In response to the pressured lobbying, the Alberta legislature would call for a Royal Commission, entitled "The Ewing Commission" to investigate the conditions of the "Half-Breeds" (Metis) within the province. The Ewing Commission's (Ewing royal commission) final report called for a Métis land base and that it be provided by the provincial government under the Natural Resource Transfer Act 1930.

The result of the report was the creation of twelve Métis settlements in 1938 by way of the Métis Population Betterment Act. In the late 1950s four of these settlements (Touchwood, Marlboro, Cold Lake, and Wolf Lake) were closed, requiring residents to relocate to the remaining eight settlements, all north of Edmonton.

The Alberta Federation of Metis Settlements Associations was formed in 1975 as the umbrella organization for the eight settlement councils. The Alberta Federation of Metis Settlements, now unified by federation, united all exiting Metis settlements.

In 1990, through decades of negotiations and meetings, the Federation of Metis Settlements and the Crown in the Province of Alberta reached an agreement, the Alberta-Metis Settlements Accord,^[6] that involved the payment of $310 million to the Métis by Alberta and the passage of four bills. The legislation consisted of Bill 33, the Metis Settlements Accord Implementation Act; Bill 34, the Metis Settlements Land Protection Act; Bill 35, the Metis Settlements Act and Bill 36, the Constitution of Alberta Amendment Act 1990. By this legislation, title to a total of 1,250,000 acres (510,000 ha) of land was transferred to the Metis Settlements General Council (MSGC).^[7][8]

As of the 2006 Canadian census, Big Lakes County had the most Métis people per capita of any Canadian census subdivision with a population of 5,000 or more, due to the census' inclusion of the population of three Métis settlement municipalities within Big Lakes' totals.

Recently, many other Métis people have moved to larger urban centres, becoming urban aboriginals. In 2006, a total of 27,740 persons living in the Edmonton census metropolitan area identified as Métis, accounting for just over half (53%) of the region's Aboriginal population.^[9] Between 2001 and 2006 the Métis population of the Edmonton region grew by 32%.^[9] Despite their recent legal victories, in 2006 Métis people in Alberta still faced higher rates of unemployment and disease, lower average incomes than their non-aboriginal neighbours.^[9]

Politics

The Government of Canada has been in negotiations since with two Métis organizations, the Metis Nation of Alberta since 2016^[12] and the Metis Settlements General Council since 2017 on general memoranda of understanding^[13]

Métis people in Alberta are also represented by the Metis National Council by way of its affiliate the Metis Nation of Alberta Association. The MNAA purports to represent Red River Metis in Alberta.

During the Constitutional talks in the early 1980s the MNAA was revived.

The mandate of the MNAA is to:

• be a representative voice on behalf of Métis people in Alberta;
• provide Métis people an opportunity to participate in government’s policy and decision making process; and, most importantly;
• promote and facilitate the advancement of Métis people through the pursuit of self-reliance, self-determination and self-management.

Overall, the MNA has evolved from an organization:

• with a small membership to an organization whose membership exceeds 35,000 people spread across the Province;
• focused on community consultation and representation to an organization that is both a representative body and a program and service provider;
• responsible for implementing specific projects to an organization responsible for providing ongoing programs and services;
• that simply reacted to government policy changes to an organization that is called upon to actively participate in the policy-making process.

Over the past 15 years, a new set of expectations has been established for the MNA through the:

• Alberta/MNA Framework Agreement process;
• Federal/Provincial/MNA Tripartite Process Agreement process; and
• Government of Alberta’s Aboriginal Policy Framework.

This period has also seen a steady rise in the number of Métis people in the Province who have registered as members of the MNA. Membership in the MNA grew by almost 300% in the last decade. Clearly, more and more Métis people in Alberta recognize the benefits of MNA memberships and the importance of the MNA as an organization.

As well, the MNA has made a transition from solely a representative body to an organization responsible and accountable for the ongoing delivery of a variety of programs and services. The MNA has continued to make significant strides as an organization and has been successful in developing and implementing a number of projects and initiatives (including Apeetogosan Development Inc., Métis Urban Housing Corporation of Alberta and the Aboriginal Human Resource Development Agreement – Labour Market Unit.)

The MNA has accepted new responsibilities and expectations and is moving towards becoming a more “results-based” organization. It has addressed issues relating to internal governance and has, in turn, developed the administrative capacity to meet the expectations that are placed upon it.

The MNA has proven itself very capable of playing a role in the policy development process. Its elected officials and staff sit on a wide range of committees responsible for an even wider array of issues.

The MNA, like any organization, has gone through a distinct evolution in its history. While it has had to deal with any number of contentious issues over the years, the MNA’s development has been built upon a strong record of successes, often achieved with minimal financial resources.

The Rupertsland Institute of Alberta is an affiliate to the Metis Nation of Alberta. Their mission is to enhance the individual self-sufficiency and the collective well-being of Metis people through quality education, training and research. www.rupertsland.org

List of settlements

Distribution of Alberta's eight Metis settlements

The Metis Settlements General Council "is the political and administrative body for the collective interests of the eight Metis Settlements... the General Council has 44 members consisting of 40 elected members from the Settlements, and 4 elected Executive members."^[14]

See also

• List of communities in Alberta
• List of designated places in Alberta
• List of Indian reserves in Alberta
• List of municipalities in Alberta

Notes

References

External links

• Métis Nation of Alberta
• Métis Settlements Act
• Student, aboriginal studies oriented dedicated to the Alberta Métis Settlements - history, documents, legislation, photographs and other research text