The Metis Nation Council Accord Map

In November 1993, the Métis Nation Executive of the Métis National Council formally recognized the Métis Nation of Ontario as the “representative organization of the Métis people in Ontario.” This recognition came just weeks after the MNO’s founding was announced on October 20, 1993—coincidentally, the same week that Métis harvesters Steve and Roddy Powley were charged with illegally hunting a moose in Sault Ste. Marie. A decade later, these events ultimately led to the Métis

The Abitibi Inland Métis Community has long recognized and asserted itself as a distinct Métis collectivity with deep family and kinship connections throughout the broader Métis Nation Homeland. This collective consciousness, situated within an understanding of a broader Métis Nationhood, is exemplified within the Abitibi Inland Métis Community’s 1893 and 1905 petitions for Métis scrip. The Abitibi Inland Métis Community’s 1905 petition read, in part: “We understand that

In 2004, the Métis Nation of Ontario signed a landmark interim Harvesting Agreement with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources—the first negotiated agreement of its kind signed by any Métis Government within the Métis Homeland. The Agreement recognized MNO’s Harvesting Policy on an interim basis and provided for the recognition of a maximum of 1,250 Harvesters Cards—as well as a pathway to remove the cap on the number of recognized MNO Harvester Cards in the future based

In the years leading up to the landmark Métis rights case, R. v. Powley, being heard by the Supreme Court of Canada, the Métis Nation—through the Métis National Council (MNC)—undertook extensive consultations, discussions, and debates to reach a shared National Definition for citizenship in the Métis Nation. This work was led by the National Métis Rights Panel. The National Métis Rights Panel was chaired by then-Métis Nation of Ontario President Tony Belcourt and included rep

From the moment the Métis Nation of Ontario was founded 1993 and articulated its guiding aspirations in its Statement of Prime Purpose, it has publicly asserted that the Métis Homeland extends westward “from the lakes and rivers of Ontario,” beyond those directly adjacent to the prairies in Northwestern Ontario. The MNO’s founding 1993 description of the Métis Homeland mirrored that of the broader Métis Nation, as represented by the Métis National Council—which the MNO had no