The Metis Nation of Alberta is hoping for the passing of a federal government bill that would recognize Metis governments.
Garrett Tomlinson is the Senior Director of Self Government for the Metis Nation, he says the bill would “create a framework” to negotiate modern treaties with the federal government.
“Covering areas that are internal to our governments like citizenship, leadership selection, structure of our government, how we care for children and families in CFS files and those sorts of things. Really putting that jurisdiction back within Metis governments and having it recognized by Canada.”
Tomlinson says the debates on the self government legislation in Parliament are “unprecedented”.
“Of the 27 other self governing indigenous nations, their legislation has actually never made it through one committee hearing. To see this series of more than half a dozen and the debates that are happening is a bit unusual. Our desire as the Metis Nation is to see this process more forward quite quickly. It is reconciliation in action and we’ve waited for over 40 years to see this action.”
You can listen to our full interview below.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
