What is new at MNC?

There is a new foundation and focus coming to the Métis National Council. Gary Lipinski is now the new President of the Métis Nation of Ontario and based on the news releases – he has hit the ground running. The Métis Nation of Ontario has worked and developed some very significant relationships with the provincial government in Ontario and appear to be strengthening their relationship with the various Métis people at the community level.

Tony has taken on some new challenges in his retirement. He has started a new organization which he is the President of. He will be working on developing opportunity for the Indigenous people of the Americas. In fact, he is working on an initiative to bring cell phones to the Indigenous people of Guatemala right now.

Clem is busy on his International interests and is trying to find support for the people in Nicaragua.

British Columbia is busy with community consultations in their various regional boundaries. They will work at letting the people determine their progression into the future, including whether they continue with the Métis National Council. Based on their communication with the Métis National Council – answers to their questions would go a long way to indicating to the Métis in BC that their participation is welcome. They are also busy strengthening their relationship federally and provincially. There has been indications that they have successfully negotiated bilateral agreements that will move the Métis Nation of BC forward regardless of what they end up doing.

Through the Manitoba Métis Federation we have heard that there have been regional meetings. Based on David’s Presidents report they are filled with Métis people in Manitoba who are singing and dancing with happiness. David is apparently meeting with the Ian Potter the Assistant Deputy Minister, FNIHB Health Canada. The Board of Governors at their meeting passed a resolution that indicated they were willing to try and negotiate a new agreement with Health Canada if the issues of the past contract breach could be resolved. That is now up in the air because the forensic audit is not complete and the Assistant Deputy Minister is rumored to be leaving his present position. The Board of Governors at their meeting clearly did not support the continuation of the existing agreement and wanted to begin working on the development of bilateral agreements with each of the Provincial organizations. This is probably really important for some of our provinces because in the past Manitoba has gotten the lion’s share of the funding that comes into MNC while often BC and Ontario received the crumbs. Government in a bilateral process would develop a funding formula that would have indicators that would determine the percentage of funding that would be equally shared amongst the provinces based on the formula much like the existing Métis Human Resource Development Agreement is negotiated.

On to Alberta – well not much needs to be said about the issues happening there – the ongoing political dog eat dog world is highlighted in many blogs and the only real dogs that have been torn apart is the Métis people in the community. As has been reported on this blog and others -Rick Boucher is suspended and the division of the political allies are shifting. There is to be a Provincial Council meeting next week to resolve issues. There will probably be a great deal of attention focused on that blogs after the meeting. In the meantime the candidates are lining up and the people who have been mortal enemies in the past are trying to convince each other they should now be allies in the future.

In Saskatchewan – we have heard that there is work being done to try and recover from what has been a long political battle in their province. They are trying to reestablish relationships and working at putting their governing structure back together. There is a split on the provincial council that they are working to overcome. If they stay focused on the issues of commonality they just may be the role model for how to overcome our differences.

As Métis people in our community – we need to work on staying focused on the issues and not getting caught up in self serving political agendas. Even one of the blogs are becoming an obvious campaign head quarter for some of our more challenged. I do caution individuals on something that is being presented recently - one of these forums has become a means of trying to suck individuals into financing them. Many blogs have been around for many more years then Metis Mama and they are not seeking your money to share or give insight into the world of issues that are of concern to you. Before you buy into putting your hard earned money to forums or sites with their own political agenda - make sure that they represent an organization that reflects your priorities and that the money is not going to one or two private pockets.

Our nation needs to focus on the things that are paramount to our future – like engaging our youth so that they are not completely alienated from their culture. We pray that some of our young people who have sought a future of understanding our contemporary communities but remembering their past will step up and begin to get involved so that the future of the Métis Nation is not lost in the future generations.