MNC Assembly

For any that may be interested – “Any person can run for election of the National President.” There is no qualification of membership or affiliation of any Métis Provincial body. The following is the actual MNC bylaws in relation to the President:

6. (a) The Métis National Council Organizational Structure shall consist of a Métis National Council General Assembly, the Board of Governors and the Office of the President.

8. The Board of Governors shall consist of the Presidents, or designated representative, of each member association and the President of the Métis National Council who shall be the Chief Executive Officer.

Office of the President of the Métis National Council

8.(b) (i) The President of the Métis National Council shall be elected by the Métis National Council General Assembly by 50% plus one of the votes cast.

(ii) The election for the President shall take place between the second and third year of the President’s term and the date for the election shall be set by the Board of Governors.

(iii) The President of the Métis National Council shall be responsible for the management of the Secretariat and shall be the Chief Spokesperson for the Métis National Council, responsible for enhancing and promoting the cultural, social, economic and political interests of the Métis Nation in the spirit of the Riel Government.

(iv) The position of President of the Métis National Council shall not be held by an elected person at the provincial level and will be a full time salaried position with the remuneration determined by the Board of Governors.

(v) Notwithstanding (iv), a person who holds an elected position at the provincial level may be elected as President of the Métis National Council provided that the person relinquishes the position at the provincial level within a reasonable period of time but no later than 90 days following the date of the said election.

(vi) The President shall be responsible for chairing meetings of the Board of Governors and directing its debate.

9. (a) For the purposes of determining the number of voting delegates fro the election of a President of the Métis National Council at a General Assembly, the Presidents of the Founding Members shall have (5) votes each and subject to Paragraph (b), all other Members shall have a minimum of one vote each.

(b) Non founding Members have the right to acquire one additional vote upon providing proof that its membership is equal to at least 40% of the average membership of the Founding Members, and, further they have the right to acquire an additional vote upon providing proof that its membership has increased by at least twenty percent of the average membership of the Founding Members to a maximum of five votes.

On the MNC website you can review a complete file of the bylaws but the ones that pertain to the election of the President have been included here.

It is important to note that ANYONE can run as President. In fact based on the bylaws you are not even required to be Métis.

Now a few problems that exist – it obviously needs to be someone that is saleable to the delegates that attend the assembly. Due to the existing court order – which David so kindly sent around for me to be able to refer to - I am able to report that:

1. The order only lets the Board of Governors meet once prior to the assembly prior to January 31, 2008 for the sole purpose of approving the MNC Financial Statements and Audit for 2006-07 so they can prepare the financial documents for the Assembly. This meeting could only be the five Board of Governors, the Finance Director of MNC and the auditor. This meeting was in Ottawa on Thursday. They could not deal with any other business outside of the finances. I am sure there will be interesting things coming out of this audit and we hope the delegates will have the foresight to scrutinize some of the discrepancies and question the irregularities. Not that it will do much good but the development of resolutions to create policies to prevent more mismanagement is possible.

2. The second issue that is included in the court order is that there will be a MNC General Assembly on February 23 and 24, 2008 in Ottawa. The co-chairs will be Nick Sibbeston and Richard Mirasty. The agenda is as follows:

a. Welcome comments from chair
b. Roll Call
c. Approval of the Agenda (Which has been set and can not be amended based on
the court order.)
d. Appointment of the Elections and Resolution Committee
e. Finance and Administration Report (including Appointment of an Auditor)
f. Overview of election and voting process
g. Nomination of Candidates for President
h. 15 min. Speech from Candidates
i. Vote for Pres.
j. Election results and acceptance speech
k. Updates from governing members
l. Presentation by Métis Youth Advisory
m. Presentation by Women of the Métis Nation
n. Workshop on relationship with Federal Government – update on Métis litigation
o. Developing strategies
p. Resolution
q. Adjourn

The delegates are set as the following:

a. 5 voting delegates for British Columbia - 4 Alternates
b. 5 voting delegates for Ontario - 12 Alternates
c. 15 voting delegates for Saskatchewan - 3 Alternates
d. 15 voting delegates for Manitoba - 3 Alternates
e. 14 voting delegates for Alberta - 6 Alternates

Now to hear Clem and Trevor Gladue tell the story Rick Boucher volunteered not to participate but the truth is the mediating Judge advised the Board of Governors that nobody in their right mind would make Alberta bring Rick Boucher after he reviewed the decision on his conflict of interest where he is suspended. The Magistrate upheld the decision of Alberta’s Métis Judiciary Council.

Back to the issues – in Manitoba there are three Board members who David is not taking – they are not alternates or any part of the meeting - Rosemarie Mcpherson, Ron Chartrand and Anita Campbell. It appears like these three individuals have been asking too many questions and David feels he can’t trust them. Jean Desrosiers is on holidays and can not be there.

Now the last thing I am going to put here for now is what I can find out about the chairs:

Richard Mirasty is a Métis lawyer who until recently was the Director of the Indigenous Law Program at the University of Alberta. (David and Clem’s pick as a chair)

Honorable Nick Sibbeston - a Métis lawyer from the North West Territories. Senator Sibbeston was the first Aboriginal lawyer in the history of the Northwest Territories. In 1979, he was elected a MLA. By 1984, he was a cabinet minister. 1986 he was Premier of the Northwest Territories. In 1999, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien appointed him to the Senate of Canada. (He is the other four governing members pick)

The chairs will have a challenging time trying to control the meeting but anything will beat the Will Gooden – Dale Leclair gong show at the last assembly.