44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 9, 2023
- 03:52:00 p.m.
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Okay.
What I did was I reviewed the Métis nation's self-government agreement with the feds and also the Métis nation's self-government act that recognizes self-government for Métis under federal jurisdiction and law, and the Métis capacity to make treaties and ratify treaties, and their citizenship status.
The first term for Métis, as we already heard, was half-breed. That's something that is not addressed, and they call that the code of silence. The Métis had to inherit their Indian status. When they inherited those inherent rights, they inherited the inherent sovereignty of the Indian nations, the inherent rights by sector, the inherent rights to education, health, economics, justice and so on, and the inherent right to the title of lands and resources. The inherent rights we have as Indian nations were granted to our nations by the Creator, and they're granted to our people by the Creator.
That's what the Métis have inherited from the Indian heritage they have, and they're guaranteed. Their reserves are recognized and confirmed and guaranteed with the national powers of treaty-making and the international treaties that we made. The Métis inherited Treaty No. 3 in Ontario, as you know. We are born with those rights and that status, and we inherit them from generation to generation.
Now, on the non-Indian side, they inherited the colonial benefits that the non-Indians have: the criteria for title to land and resources, for example, and, in Manitoba, the homesteads that the non-Indians occupied and improved. They met the criteria for having title to the land and resources, the Métis settlements and the Métis-occupied and -approved lands prior to treaty. That provided them the title to their lands and resources as you have under your colonial systems. This is one example of taking the best of what they inherited from both sides—the Indian and non-Indian sides. The act goes on to recognize their jurisdiction and laws. It also deals with the recognition that they have to have their own laws. That means there has to be a process in place to deal with the interface between jurisdiction and law within the Métis governments of the Métis nation and jurisdiction and law within the Métis laws, the first nation laws and the provincial and federal laws.
It also deals with the capacity to recognize citizenship. Subsection 35(2) now recognizes that the Métis are constitutionally distinct, and the portability of their rights has to be included in the Métis act. I'm talking about the portability of their inherent sovereignty, their inherent rights and treaties, treaty rights whether in community, regionally, nationally or internationally.
When you do that, keep in mind that nations make treaties; treaties do not make nations. Modern-day treaty-making creates governments. If you don't have a government in the first place, what are you doing signing a treaty? The treaties that are going to be made or that have been made by both parties need ratification and implementation under new specific and unique laws to give them legal effect.
There's a bigger picture that you need to be aware of, which most people are not aware of. The court decision in Manitoba said that the Crown is in a fiduciary relationship with the Métis as a distinct form of aboriginal peoples who cannot be ignored. It went on to say that the unfinished business of reconciliation of the Métis people in Canadian society is a matter of national and constitutional importance.
Ask yourself this: What is that all about? Here's what it's about, and most people don't know there's a bigger picture.
When we talk about the comprehensive legal and political framework governing Crown-Métis relationships, that framework is governed by what? It's the inherent sovereignty of the Métis nation, the assumed sovereignty of the Crown, the inherent rights and title by the Métis nation, the Crown treaty nations, the Métis treaty relations and the Royal Proclamation of 1763. Former Supreme Court judge Dickson called it their bill of rights that recognizes everything we're talking about.
Then we have the Constitution Act of 1982, with section 35 being a full box, and section 25 now applying the Royal Proclamation of 1763. Of course, when we look at that, there is UNDRIP, with Bill C-15 now having to implement United Nations declaration.
When we talk about the recognition of that framework, that broader-based framework, what does it recognize? It's that framework that governs by those instruments that I just highlighted, and it recognizes sovereign treaty relations, Crown-to-Métis relations, nation-to-nation government relations, government-to-government relations and inherent rights to treaty rights relations.
The format for implementation, then, or what that judgment is calling for, requires the implementation of that framework respecting political relations: the equality of government jurisdiction and law in courts. Métis—
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- 03:58:03 p.m.
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Okay. That's about the end of the statement I want to make, but there's a code of silence that has to be addressed. There are 500 years of colonial policies that people can tie together historically from 1493 to 2023, and that's very critical, because that's what's being implemented today.
Thank you.
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- 04:04:23 p.m.
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- 04:04:48 p.m.
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I certainly do.
It's up to the Métis nation and the Métis people to identify all their inherent rights and their status. When they do, they interpret those rights based on their own world view and philosophy, traditions, customs, practices, values, beliefs and the Métis language. Then there are collective and individual duties and responsibilities to all those inherent rights, including Métis inherent sovereignty.
They know all that, and what are their plans and studies to implement their inherent rights by sector, such as the inherent right to education, the inherent right to health, or the Métis inherent right to justice and economics? This is looking at the whole economy, which is community-based, regional, national and international, with all your inherent rights and treaty rights intact in every sector of the economy, with ownership and benefits identified through a trade and commerce act with the Métis nation. Once you do that, you have your special laws and policies that implement your inherent rights and the Métis identification of their status.
Some Métis have legislated their own citizen pacts and laws. One guy from Ontario came from a Métis community here to Saskatchewan, and he was denied Métis status. What are the Métis doing, rejecting the portability of their status and their rights that I just talked about earlier? They have no authority to be doing that. They have to change their citizenship act to respect the recognition of the Métis, no matter where they are in Canada or outside of Canada. The portability of the Métis status and rights is critical. The Métis nation has to come together.
Remember that earlier I said that the Métis nation has to deal with the internal interface of jurisdiction and law? You only put your finger on one of the issues that will impact the Métis nation and the Métis government. It's respecting citizenship and membership and how they implement that to complement the rights and status of the Métis and the portability of their rights and status—
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- 04:09:23 p.m.
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I can address that.
I mentioned earlier that nations make treaties; treaties do not make nations. The current ones that are in place, like the Yukon treaty.... That's a treaty creating the governments of our nations. That's like saying that they didn't have a government to make a treaty in the first place.
Keep in mind that it's the national powers of treaty-making that you're talking about, of the governments of our nations. They have the power to implement those treaties under their jurisdiction and laws and to give them legal effect, not just ratification.
Yes, there will be overlap in many areas, and that has to be addressed. You're now back to the issue I mentioned earlier: the interface of government jurisdiction and law. The national powers of treaty-making and the implementation of treaties respecting territorial boundaries and lands and treaty rights in every sector have to be addressed formally under your jurisdiction and laws.
When do you deal with the interface of jurisdiction and law between the Indian nations and the Métis nations, the federal government and the provincial governments? That treaty process is not valid in terms of dealing with these political issues that I'm talking about. That's what the judgment said. You have to rectify the Métis relations with the sovereignty of Canada and the Constitution.
Your problem is that most people don't know what that framework is all about. That's been my experience, even with members of government, Parliament, ministers and the opposition. They don't know what that framework is about, but it's been there since 1982. They're still implementing the BNA Act of 1876. That's the comment I have.
However, let's understand the national powers of treaty-making. We talk about treaties and treaty rights. We never discuss the national powers of treaty-making, yet they're very valid. That's one of the national powers of governing. The national powers of governing are governing internal, external and international affairs.
The self-government policy provides governing of only internal affairs. That's not inherent sovereignty. The inherent sovereignty provides for the recognition of your jurisdiction for the internal, national and international political and governing affairs. That's my position regarding the issue you're talking about.
However, when do we go to that political agenda and elevate this administrative and legal agenda to a political agenda dealing with these major political agenda items I'm talking about that I've tabled with you? By the way, I provided you with inherent rights charts. I provided you with a comprehensive legal and political relations chart, as well as the self-journey of self-termination under the 500 years of colonial policies. That document highlights those in about two pages, so you have those charts.
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