44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 23, 2023
- 04:41:50 p.m.
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Good evening. My name is Dean Gladue. I am Métis. I was born in Dawson Creek in northeastern British Columbia and was raised in a Métis community known as Moccasin Flats, which is currently known as Chetwynd. My parents are Bill and Blanche Gladue, née Desjarlais. My father's Métis parents are Louis Gladue and Madeline Gladue, née Laboucane and Lafranaise. My mother's Métis parents are Joseph Desjarlais and Helen Desjarlais, née Belcourt. My family has generations of Métis people marrying Métis people. I am proud to be Métis as enshrined in the Constitution of Canada.
Thank you for your invitation to appear as a witness today. I open today with one statement and one call to Canada.
I support the self-determination of the Métis-governing members of the Métis National Council—Métis Nation of Alberta, Métis Nation-Saskatchewan and Métis Nation of Ontario. I am optimistic that Bill C-53 establishes a pathway to self-determination for Métis in British Columbia.
Today, I'm thinking of my ancestors and all the things they would want to say. My family continues to practice our language, nehiyawk. We speak the language, and we practice our culture very intently. To this day, I'm a son, grandson, great-grandson, brother, uncle and cousin. There are many cousins, as we know, in the indigenous world—lots of cousins.
My family lived on road allowances. My mother attended residential school. I was almost scooped out of my family at the hospital shortly after being born. I carry teachings of what it means to be Métis, the people who govern themselves—of the resistance. This was passed to me from my grandfather, my mooshoom, Louis Gladue. He shared what his mooshoom, his grandpa, said.
Also, I served 26 years in the RCMP, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Since 2017, I have served as an elected leader in the ministry with the Métis Nation B.C. Every generation of my family has been involved with the Métis nation and this movement since 1816.
I do this work because Métis people are struggling. I see it in my own family. Métis voices are limited. Even in the next generation we are seeing that. The policies of Canada and its provinces are still negatively impacting us. This is the outcome of Canada not recognizing Métis rights to self-government.
I carry my Métis laws with me—my right to care for my children, to speak my language—nehiyawk—to practice my culture, and my right to identify as Métis and to be claimed by a Métis family and nation. I have a right to be supported by Métis society and Métis government.
I am still Métis here in front of you today. My Métis government, Métis Nation B.C., submitted a brief on Bill C-53, which also supports this bill and calls on Canada to see the bill as a pathway to self-government for MNBC. Bill C-53 is Canada upholding a right of self-governance for our fellow governing members.
For you truly to uphold UNDRIP, Canada must recognize the history and cultural practices that all Métis in Canada, including section 35 rights-holding Métis living in B.C. I am sharing the Cree word. It's also a very well-known word in the Métis culture, otipemisiwak, which means people who govern themselves. You heard it earlier with President Caron.
Métis people have always had our laws, our ways of organizing ourselves, distinct Métis societies and recognition of Métis governance. This is key to the recognition of our rights. Métis are highly mobile through cultural practices and livelihoods. We are also a displaced people due to colonial practices such as the residential schools and sixties scoop. Métis laws, cultural governments and jurisdiction over our families were intentionally disrupted and silenced. Outcomes of Canada's laws and policies.... For example, our children, the government continues to deny our jurisdiction over our children. To this day, Métis people live in fear that their children will be taken away by the government. Once Métis children are gone without a recognized Métis government, the individual families must fight to learn where their children are. The inability of Canada to enter into government-to-government agreements with MNBC has caused this.
My story, my family's story, shared in part here with you today is an example of our Métis laws and practices. I believe that some of my family members are still alive because of my parents exercising their Métis rights. My family knows that we need a Métis nation, a Métis government, to advocate with the provincial and federal governments to respect our laws and culture and our Métis-specific services.
My family worked with Métis Nation B.C. to create Naomie's principle, in recognition of my niece Naomie. When you lose a life because of Canada's or B.C.'s policies, that affects us deeply and emotionally. This is hard to talk about. It must be talked about, because you must understand the effects of colonial government. We are creating Naomie's principle because of the continued loss of life due to the lack of culturally safe Métis wellness services. We must ensure that B.C. is a safe place for Métis to be Métis.
Building relationships, transformation and reconciliation is possible. Métis are doing this every day.
I hope this bill gets passed so my Métis brothers and sisters in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario are recognized by Canada. Bill C-53 is a step forward on the path of reconciliation. My hope is that you also realize and understand that Métis in British Columbia are missing from this legislation. We have been forgotten. We've been known as the forgotten people for over 100 years. Our rights must be recognized and respected.
Thank you. Maarsii, all my relations.
[Witness spoke in Cree]
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- 04:58:21 p.m.
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That's a good question, and it's a deep question for me because all I know is being Métis. That's all my parents know, and my mooshoom, my grandfather, as far back as Cuthbert Grant and beyond, who was a direct descendent.
We've known to be who we are. We've known that we've had issues with Canada throughout our history. We've created our own language. We have our own distinct culture and language. We came from generations of European and first nation descent. As a result, we established our own ways and laws. We've always practised our own ways and laws.
I was raised as a road allowance kid. I was born in 1966. I was also almost taken by the sixties scoop within minutes, but because I had an uncle who could read English, he was able to say, “No, they're going to take him away. They're going to steal him”. They knew that we were having children stolen from hospitals throughout Canada, especially Métis children. My mother was a residential school victim as well, which I didn't even know until 1993, because she wouldn't talk about the impacts.
The impacts and policies of Canada have definitely affected us deeply and immensely and continue to this day. I wear this pin proudly as a Métis citizen and as a Métis person because, as they say, you will live and die for your belief. I will live and die for my belief.
Nehiyaw nisitohtamowin—we speak the language; we speak the culture.
You go back home today, and you see people still struggling. In my very own family, Naomie—of Naomie's principle—died of a drug overdose last year. She suffered through her mental illness, her issues and trying to get the right help. Culturally sensitive help was not available and, as a result, she died in care, and we're going to say that. She was 22 years old. She died within a system that was colonial and not built for her success.
Yes, I am here today to say that we are Métis people, and I stand strong about what we believe and what we do. You need to know our story. I call this the grassroots Métis, the ones in the trenches, the ones who come from the resistance of 1885 who also understand the struggles we've had in this country. I believe that we are rights holders according to section 35, and I stay with that. That's why I believe I am Métis.
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- 05:00:51 p.m.
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I did 100%, and I want to finish with that. We are Canadian as well. Métis is what Canada became about. We were here before Canada was even a confederation. It's about the mosaic. It's about the melting pot of Canada, and it's our time to be heard and say who we are.
I'm a strong voice, I am, but, to be a strong voice, I had to come through fire. I had to come through storms, and I have. I have many scars on my face and my body to show that, but those are hockey scars. I'm willing to go to battle even in that when I speak that because I come from a family who knows who we are.
My grandfather said, “Api Nah pay shish.” He would say to sit down and never forget who you come from and who you are. I never knew what he meant by that until later in my life, because he had to struggle. He says that we're the poor cousins in this country. Our first nations brothers and sisters are being heard, and we're not.
Thank you.
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- 05:02:22 p.m.
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I'll speak for British Columbia. I'm not here to speak on behalf of Canada and the whole bigger picture, but I do support my brothers and sisters in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Métis children in British Columbia are the highest number of indigenous kids in care right now. We can stand behind that because we've been preaching that. Right now we don't know where our children are in British Columbia. If our children were taken away, we'd have no idea if they're in culturally sensitive homes or who they are. We're still experiencing that.
The last few suicides in care have been Métis children in British Columbia. We know that. In fact, a good friend of mine lost one of his sons. He was put in a hotel, because where does he go? It's the hot potato, we call it. First nations don't want to handle it. Nobody wants to handle it. It's “He's Métis, so we can do this.” That's why the culture's so....
I was a police officer for 26 years. I saw the devastation from the ramifications of those policies. Because we don't have a self-government agreement in British Columbia, I believe these are still the consequences of the policies of Canada, which have been there for over 100 years for us.
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- 05:03:53 p.m.
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I'm not the president. I'm a region 3 director, Thompson—Okanagan, which is the beautiful Okanagan in B.C. I'm a minister of sports and active living, associate minister of justice and the minister of natural resources. I have a bit of a portfolio there.
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- 05:04:13 p.m.
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Call me Dean. Call me “late for dinner”.
Voices: Oh, oh!
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- 05:04:52 p.m.
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I'm going to do the best I can in that regard. First of all, I'm not an expert in that. I can't, really, so things may be said in jest, but I do know this: We have one of the strictest genealogy enrolments in Canada. We have a very strict one. In fact, we went through a new process here recently, a process in which we've identified some who are not of Métis descent and things that were flawed. We're growing, and I'd say this is a new time and era for us.
When I played junior hockey years ago, I used to go to these native tournaments around Canada. I recall guys showing up with a card, and we knew they weren't because they were from my hometown. We knew they were not, but they had a card because the local native team wanted them to play. Again, we're a very competitive people. That was happening back in the day. In some ways it's still happening, and we need to clean that up. We need to know who are nehiyawk, who are the real people.
In B.C. we're doing that. We take that seriously and with pride. We've been in B.C. for a lot of years. My family came to British Columbia because we were still nomadic. We were still running from the Prairies. We were still running from the government in the late 1950s. That's why we came to the little town called Chetwynd and created what's called Moccasin Flats. We were still squatting land. Whenever we saw the government officials, I remember hiding in a tree or behind trees in the bush. Why? Nobody knew, but later I knew why.
When I say there are impacts, we have concerns about who are going to be Métis people. I played hockey the other day with a good friend of mine. He said, “Dean, I'm a capital M, not a small m,” meaning capital Métis to métis. We knew what he meant. He comes from the homeland. He comes from where we come from. We know. You know who you are, and the families know who they are.
The biggest challenge we have in B.C. is that some of them are just starting to come home. A 75-year-old-man named Phil Berlinski thought he was Polish all his life, and he passed. His mother passed many years ago. He had just found out she came from the Red River. We're still finding ourselves, but in the meantime some are trying to distinguish themselves as being Métis, but we know they're not.
We have a way to go in our genealogy. That's why we hired the experts, to make sure the right people are getting through the door.
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- 05:07:40 p.m.
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They're our cousins. They're our family. I, myself, come from the Chartrand family as well. I come from many Métis communities. I have 38 Métis connections. Whenever I go to western Canada, everybody says that I'm related to everybody.
That's why.... My wife is from South Africa. We always joke about it because most times we are very well connected throughout the whole country. Anywhere I go in western Canada especially, I'm related. I'm well involved in sports. Even on the first nations side, there's family.
I'm of Iroquois descent as well. I am a descendent through the Calliou and Belcourt clan, who are Iroquois.
We are interconnected in many different ways. We're still interconnected and we still practice our ceremonies and our laws. That's important to me because I know how distinctly different we are. There are those nehiyaw moniyaw, those Métis people who are just coming home, but they don't understand yet the heart of what it means to be Métis because they grew up with a colonial mentality.
I hope that helps.
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- 05:09:10 p.m.
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It's because they're our family and they live there. Wherever I go in this world, I'm still Métis, but in Canada, they've built their culture in time and we know that.
That's why I come here to support my brothers and sisters. It's not that, if you live in a certain area, it means you're Métis. You are Métis as you move. We have to prove our existence through an evidence base.
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- 05:09:46 p.m.
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It would for the capital-M Métis, yes.
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- 05:10:39 p.m.
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That last question sort of died off on me. For some reason, I can't hear the interpretation.
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- 05:11:00 p.m.
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It will, massively. It would make me feel like a real part of Canada, a part of our growth into what my ancestors always believed in, which was to be a part of what Canada is. Louis Riel, in his very essence, and my grandfather believed that we want to build a future for our own children so we can live in a good way.
What happened throughout history was that we got forgotten, especially after the resistance of 1885. We felt we were knocked off to the side. We were just existing, as they say. We were homeless, really. For 100 years, a lot of our people were homeless. Some are still homeless just because of economics. There could be mental illness and other factors.
My family and I are the only ones among my siblings who outright own a house, to this day. Everybody else is still trying to find themselves. That has to do with the fact that they just feel unheard at the government level. I've seen it in the RCMP, as a former officer. Someone would come in and ask what band I belonged to. I'd reply, “I don't belong to a band, I'm Métis.” I'd try to explain and they'd say, "You're just one of us.”
Yes, we're Canadian. “One of us” is that, but I'm Métis. A Métis is a Métis is a Métis. That's what I believe we are, but within the distinction of what is all of Canada.
We need to know that our history is there. We can't lose that. Losing the language is genocide, and we're fighting like crazy to keep our culture and our language alive.
I hope that helps.
This legislation would impact us for reconciliation because we're at odds with first nations as well in some ways. We have to build bridges with our brothers and sisters. We're not taking anybody's pie. There's enough for everybody. Our services lack within our nation.
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- 05:13:20 p.m.
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It's because, again, they feel that.... We do come from.... I come from a descendant of a Cree kokum and an Iroquois. There was a time 300 years ago when we were Iroquois or I was Cree, but I was also a distinct Scottish and a distinct French. Through that history, we came together and created a language and a culture that was distinct and different. Otipemisiwak—that's what the Cree called us—“those who govern themselves”, “the flower people”. The first nations were seeing within us how we created our own sense of being in government, our own sense of ways of life.
In first nations, it's not about.... Forty years ago, which is when the Constitution was being put into play, were they consulted? Was there proper consultation going on? We don't know at the time. I'm going to say that I'm not an expert in that. I'm not a constitutional lawyer, but what I do know is that I have over 300 years of culture in me that says I have a voice now, and if I speak up, I'm not going to go to jail. If there are three or four of us in a gathering, we're not an illegal assembly. Those laws of the Indian Act applied to us in many ways.
Today I sit here hoping that we have a better future for our children, but we're not going anywhere. First nations are not going anywhere. We have to build a better Canada than what Canada is, and our indigenous people can play a major role in building that, because there was a time in history when we got kicked out of Canada's ways, and we were dictated what to do and where to live. Scrip came up earlier. My parents had scrip, but then you look at our stories—a simple bottle of whiskey took one family's scrip away because he had no idea what was going on.
Land base was all about, “We share the land.” The European mentality was, “I want a piece of land,” but we didn't know the value of it. We all did it: “I'll just go elsewhere.” There was lots of land to be had in Canada. That's why we went into the bush, and we lived there and we lived off the land.
Some days my mom and dad want to go there and live back there. They want to be there, but we were in a housing project in Chetwynd. We were put into it in 1972. There was even a documentary done on my people, Moccasin Flats. It's on YouTube.
In my eyes, yes, this will build a better nation, plus we'll have better times playing when we go play aboriginal hockey together.
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- 05:16:21 p.m.
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You are us; we are you. We all belong to the same people. We all bleed red.
I've had this debate with many. My best friend is first nations. My best friend's brother is a chief. When I live in my northern area, where Mr. Zimmer's from, in the northeast, where I grew up, where all my family still exists, we have great dialogue because we talk to each other. We haven't lost our ways with first nations where I'm from. It's about going back to that table and talking to one another.
I'm going to say this in a statement here, and I'm not going to...because of embarrassment. I have a friend whose child has a treaty card, and if you want to use blood quantum, it's 10% blood quantum. I'm almost 100% blood quantum, but I'm Métis. My great-grandfather wanted us to be free people. We will not be put—as he said—onto a farm or into a cage. We exerted our rights back in the day, and I'm learning that, but now I'm learning to speak up and hear my voice. I am my ancestors' voice now. I speak for them who were silenced, and that's why I'm a passionate person.
I consider myself a warrior, but a warrior who needs to build peace. Blessed are the peacemakers. That's how I see myself, and I hope other first nations see themselves as that, as well as others.
As we've seen, in other parts of the world, there's great strife going on. I hope we never see a Canada like that. I want to be building. I want my children and my children's children to be a part of a great Canada.
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- 05:24:53 p.m.
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First of all, as I said, we're all cousins. I have cousins. We have cousins throughout.... When we look at the different Métis settlements and the Métis traditional communities, a lot of our families started there and then they'd spread out again and again.
My mother's family ended up in the community of Kelly Lake in northeastern British Columbia, which is a known Métis community as well, but it's still trying to get recognition to this day. We've been involved with that. Métis in B.C. are saying, “We've been here. Where are our rights to be heard and voiced, and our services?”
I always say to people that evidence-based land is a whole different debate, but services and programs to help our people—making sure we're getting culturally sound programs and that our children are learning their language and their culture—we're still struggling with that in B.C. In fact, there's a bill coming through for education right now, Bill 40, that is going to take that all away from us again. It's cultural genocide in different ways.
That's why I'm a passionate person for my nation. This is the voice my ancestors wanted. Some were shut down in different ways. Some were jailed, some were shot and some ran. Some of their houses were nearly burnt throughout history. My house won't be burnt because I have fire insurance.
Voices: Oh, oh!
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