"Metis status hard to define"

OTTAWA - A Metis Circle Special Consultation convened by the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples hopes to clarify issues of concern of Metis people.

The special consultation to be held April 5 and April 6 in Ottawa will deal with various issues including recognition of Metis, Metis women and community decision making, Metis self government, and aboriginal and treaty rights of Metis.

"One of our purpose for the round table is to define Metis," said Don Kelly, media relations officer for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal People. "Presently there are many different interpretations of Metis."

Coming forward with a definition of Metis is a sensitive topic, Kelly said. He added that people get offended when they are asked to define who and what they are.

"If you are a Mohawk, you don't ask what is a Mohawk? Many Metis say we are what we are, we know who we are in our hearts, why should we put it on paper?"

Kelly said finding a definition for Metis will be a problem because by defining people can get excluded. Kelly added that by not putting barriers on membership "anyone can claim status."

The Royal Commission on Aboriginal People has not put forth their own definition of Metis, said Kelly, but a document given to the commission by the Metis National Council gave some criteria for membership with their organization.

"The criteria included proven ancestry," said Kelly. "The Metis consider themselves descendants of Sioux, Cree and Ojibwa natives and French, English and Irish settlers in the Red River area."

The Metis are recognized in the Constitution Act, 1982, as one of the three Aboriginal Peoples of Canada who possess Aboriginal and Treaty rights, but neither the federal nor most provincial governments have acknowledged this fact.

One problem concerning Metis status, said Kelly, is unlike aboriginal Canadians who have been registered so people can trace their ancestry there has been very little in the way of registration for Metis.

"The government has never taken registration for Metis," Kelly said. "People who think they are Metis will have to trace their family tree to find out if they are or not."

Kelly said there is a possibility of creating a central registry system so people can find out who Metis people are, where they are and be able to get a population figure on their numbers.

Kelly said that many people are not aware of Eastern Metis who's heritage is unique from the Western Metis.

"This is a new area for the Commission," he said. "Some of the Commissioners weren't aware there were Metis in the eastern areas of the country."