44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 9, 2023
- 03:37:14 p.m.
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Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.
[Witness spoke in Anishinaabemowin and provided the following text:]
Makwa ga ni ga nich nit si ka sin.
[Witness provided the following translation:]
I am The Bear That Leads.
[Witness spoke in Plains Cree and provided the following text:]
Manitou sakhaigan ochi niya kyate.
[Witness provided the following translation:]
Spirit Lake is where I am from.
[English]
I'm Tony Belcourt. My spirit name is The Bear That Leads. It's a name that was given to me by former Ontario regional chief Charles Fox.
I'm from the Métis community of Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta. I have been involved as an indigenous advocate and leader for nearly 55 years: as a Métis leader in Alberta in the sixties, as president of the Native Council of Canada in the seventies and as founding president of the Métis Nation of Ontario from 1994 to 2008. I was a member of the board of governors of the Métis National Council for 15 years and a Métis nation ambassador to the United Nations and the OAS for 10 years.
I am carried by the pipe.
Maternal ancestors in my community are Cree and Sekanais women. They are the grandmothers who gave us our language and taught us our medicines, values, cultures and traditions. My paternal ancestors are French and Mohawk. In other communities of our homeland, they include the Scots and the English. In Métis communities in other parts of the Métis homeland, our maternal ancestors include the Saulteaux, Dene and Anishinabe.
The blood of our ancestors in much of our homelands is the same as that of our first nations cousins. In fact, the Cree in my area called us âpihtawikosisân, which means “Cree half-cousins”.
The progeny of our ancestors formed the origins of our communities long before so-called outside control. These are Métis ancestors, although we were not always called Métis. In my case, we were known as Otipemisiwak, or “the people who own themselves”. At Lac Ste. Anne, we spoke of ourselves as Nehiyawak, which simply means “the people” in Cree.
In St. Laurent, Manitoba, the people there referred to themselves as Li Michif. The Anishinabek referred to the Métis in their communities as Apti Nishinabek. Governments referred to us as “half-breeds”.
I have heard opposition to Bill C-53 by those who are saying there are no Métis communities in Ontario and they don't know of any.
I would like to point out that we have a history of relationships with Ontario first nations, which includes a protocol with the Chiefs of Ontario. The purpose of this protocol was to affirm the mutual respect, recognition and support of our respective rights, interests and aspirations; to facilitate government-to-government relationships; and to establish a political process to strengthen the relationship between Ontario first nations and the Métis nation within Ontario.
We also entered into a nation-to-nation relationship with the Anishinabek Nation. It was forged in a traditional way through a sacred ceremony and an assembly of the Anishinabek Nation at Kettle and Stony Point First Nation in 2005. We both brought our songs to the drum. We brought our pipes for ceremony. We had a feast and we danced.
During that time, the Anishinabek Nation and the Métis nation worked out a harvesting accord to recognize and respect each other as nations, and agreed to conduct all discussions on the basis of respect and equality. This accord recognized the shared traditional territory and the aboriginal and treaty rights to hunt, fish and gather in the shared territory where our people have kinship ties.
I have also heard that if Bill C-53 is passed, it will be a detriment to first nations economically. This is a refrain I heard 52 years ago, when I first met with George Manuel, who was then the president of the National Indian Brotherhood. It took some time for me to get a meeting with him, and when I did, he said his chiefs didn't want him to meet with me and the government was warning him not to meet with me. They were saying there was only a loaf of bread available, and if the Métis were recognized, “Well, George, half of that loaf of bread would have to be given to them.” I said, “George, Ottawa is not a loaf of bread. Ottawa is a bakery.”
I told George we had no interest in the funds that were set aside for him through Indian Affairs. There wasn't enough for him and there was nothing for us. I told him we needed to work together to get funds for housing, for health care and for economic development. We did just that.
I hope this committee will see through the arguments that have been brought forward to deny the recognition of Métis rights in Canada and pass Bill C-53, so our Métis' and first nations' governments can begin to rebuild that nation-to-nation relationship for the benefit of all indigenous people.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
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- 03:59:15 p.m.
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Thank you for the question.
I'm very sorry to hear that. I heard that and I was very sorry to hear it.
The Métis National Council has always embraced the Métis Nation of Ontario, going back to the very beginning. On the Supreme Court of Canada decision, after that decision came down in 2003, Clem Chartier, who was president at the time, said, “As Sault St. Marie is part of the larger Métis Nation, this decision will have far reaching implications on the larger Métis collective throughout the Métis Nation Homeland [throughout] Western Canada. The people who stand charged before you today are descendants of the Historic Métis Nation, and more specifically, the historic Métis community at Sault Ste Marie.”
What is really baffling to me is why the Manitoba Métis Federation would rely on the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Regina v. Powley, so that the people there could enjoy the constitutional right to hunt and fish for food. It's kind of hypocritical to me that, on the one hand, you want to rely on the Supreme Court of Canada's case on Sault Ste. Marie and then you turn around and try to say the community doesn't exist.
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- 04:01:17 p.m.
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The Métis Nation of Ontario's registry requires those who register to provide evidence that they are a descendant of a historic Métis community. That registry has been reviewed many times for its veracity and validity.
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- 04:02:38 p.m.
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Membership is not granted on what we wear.
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- 04:03:25 p.m.
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As I said, our people are from historic communities that existed prior to outside control. As per the guidelines in Powley, these are the people who are entitled to enjoy a constitutional right, and our people provide that documentation. It has been reviewed many times, and I'm sure the MNO would say, “Fine. If you want someone to review it again, go ahead.”
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- 04:07:43 p.m.
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That's my understanding of them.
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- 04:07:59 p.m.
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- 04:08:24 p.m.
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In any treaty-making process, there are two sides. I'm sure the federal side is going to make sure it's not going to be overpowering another treaty. The treaty process that has been set aside, or the established precedent, for treaty-making in Yukon is the one that, as Jason Madden said, is the preferred one for us. I certainly support that.
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- 04:14:17 p.m.
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I'm sorry, but I think there might have been something lost in the translation. I didn't quite understand the question.
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- 04:15:06 p.m.
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I think the argument against the bill is that it is going to impact on the economies, for example.
Is that what you mean?
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- 04:16:00 p.m.
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On the arguments against the recognition of the Métis people, specifically the Métis of Ontario, I can only suggest that, first of all, there have been a lot of agreements that have been established between governments and the Métis of Ontario based on the legitimacy of our people and our communities—the historic reality of our communities.
People are saying that there are no Métis communities in Ontario. In the case of Sault Ste. Marie, do you not trust the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada? That firmly agreed with the decision of the judge at trial that the community very definitely did exist. The decision at trial was that governments have a duty to make arrangements with the rest of the Métis.
We don't need to go to trial for every single community. Surely, that's not what needs to be done. A precedent has been set. The Supreme Court of Canada said that this is the criteria for a community exercising a right.
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- 04:18:33 p.m.
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I do intend to present a written submission with 10 pages.
I'm going to address the issues one at a time in that paper.
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