Three Métis groups signed a deal Friday with the federal government that recognizes them as Indigenous governments, putting them on equal constitutional standing with First Nations and opening the door to further negotiations such as compensation for land lost.
“For over 90 years, that has always been the dream — that proper recognition of a Métis government,” said Audrey Poitras, president of the Métis Nation of Alberta.
Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller, who also signed the deal with the Métis Nation of Ontario and Métis Nation – Saskatchewan, said it would soon be backed up by legislation.
“It affirms an inherent right (to self-government) that is very similar to the inherent right of First Nations,” Miller said.
The deal builds on a 2019 accord that acknowledged the Métis right to self-government but stopped short of naming groups that would form those governments. Friday’s agreement does just that, said lawyer Jason Madden, who acted for the Alberta group.
“This agreement says: ‘You’re a government,'” he said.
It gives the groups control over what it calls “core elements” of self-rule. That includes determining who is a Métis citizen, leadership selection and government operations.
It also brings the Métis groups under federal legislation that gives Indigenous governments control over family and child welfare.
“For many, many years we’ve been stopping and starting, trying to find a way to take care of our own children,” said Poitras. “With the signing of this new agreement, it takes us one step further to really look after our own citizens.”
Madden said Friday’s signing is limited to those elements — for now.
“The agreement allows for supplemental jurisdiction agreements,” he said. “(They) would be subsequently negotiated to deal with issues around land, harvesting, other things that may be more controversial.”
Miller said the next step will be a treaty and land claim for the Métis.
“This does create the base for those next conversations,” he said.
Poitras expects the deal will give Métis a stronger hand in negotiations with the province of Alberta as well.
The agreement also opens the door to negotiations on compensation for the notorious Métis scrip program.
“Scrip is a sorry legacy in this country,” Poitras said.
In the late 19th century, Métis were given scrip — a type of coupon — in exchange for land they had occupied for generations. The scrip was meant to compensate Métis for extinguishing any claim on those lands.
However, some charge that many Métis had their names forged on land transfer documents. Others were victimized by speculators who bought up Métis land for pennies on the dollar.
Métis were often left landless where they used to freely roam.
“There is some unfinished business,” Miller said. “It is embodied in the very difficult history around the scrip system that was fraudulent.”
The three agreements signed Friday aren’t the first to recognize Métis organizations as governments. The Manitoba Métis Federation signed a similar deal in 2019.
Negotiations are ongoing with Métis groups in the Northwest Territories and British Columbia. Miller said talks with the Northwest Territory Métis Nation are well advanced.
The deal doesn’t affect the legal rights of Alberta’s eight Métis Settlements. Separate from the Métis Nation of Alberta and recognized under provincial law, the settlements are the only lands in Canada held collectively by Métis.
Dave Lamouche, president of the Métis Settlements General Council, said his group had no immediate comment on the deal signed Friday.
“It’s too early to tell,” he said. “We’re reviewing the details with our lawyers.”
Miller said the government will talk with Lamouche.
“We always have an open door to speak to them about their assertion of collective rights.”
But on Friday, three Métis nation governments were taking a victory lap.
“I think of all the past leaders and forefathers who stood strong on who we are,” Poitras said. “We are a Métis nation.
“It’s been amazing over the past five or six years, going forward, actually seeing things happen.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 24, 2023.
This is a corrected story. A previous version referenced the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan, the Métis Nation of Manitoba and the Métis Nation of the Northwest Territories. The organizations are, in fact, respecitvely called Métis Nation – Saskatchewan, the Manitoba Métis Federation and Northwest Territory Métis Nation. This version also corrects language to reflect the Métis nation’s self-determined position on its governance.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia‘s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
