 Manitoba Metis Federation President David Chartrand is confident the outcome of the land claim court case will be in favour of the Metis.
The promises themselves are more than 135 years old, the case has been in and out of the courts for 35, but the Métis people of Manitoba will soon have closure to century old battle for land promised to them by the Canadian Government.
Final arguments are under way in the historic case dealing with the original promises of the federal government in the Manitoba Act 1870 to guarantee 1.4 million acres of land to Métis people and their children, and to protect river lots from an influx of settlers (sections 31 and 32 respectively).
“But the Métis were truly and deeply robbed,” David Chartrand, president of the Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) said about the case. “I think Canada should do the right thing and move towards formatting some kind of process of negotiation.”
Research undertaken by the MMF show that the Métis people wanted land of benefit to themselves and family, such as river lots, wooded areas, hay lands and other lands of value and benefit near the Red River Settlement Parishes.
The MMF argues the Métis were pushed out of lands deemed to valuable by the government of the time and the result was to force the Métis onto land that were largely bald prairie and of little value. Government officials randomly chose the land by or conducted draws and the initial wishes of the people were largely ignored.
“The honour of the Crown is at stake,” Audrey Poitras, president of the Métis nation of Alberta said about the case. “The government made an agreement with our people. This agreement saw to the creation of the province of Manitoba and in exchange we were to be allocated almost one and a half million acres of land, land of value to our people. We have been forced to take this to the courts just to get the Canadian Government to fulfill its obligation.”
The case is not about the MNF taking over Winnipeg, but about the Métis Nation asserting itself and reminding all Canadians about their existence and deep impact on our shared history.
The case was first brought before the court system in 1981. In 1990 the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed the right to take the issue to court, and that day finally arrived on April 3, 2006. On June 12, 2006, closing arguments began. It is expected to take up to three months for a conclusion to be reached.
Chartrand believes that the Métis have made a very clear case.
“We’re very confident we will be successful,” MMF President David Chartrand said about the upcoming decision. “And at the end of the day, the Métis will finally have justice.”
By Monique Devlin |
