“conservation and preservation of all”

The Métis Nation of Ontario’s 1994 Founding Delegates Assembly adopted several resolutions to defend the exercise of inherent Métis harvesting rights and pursue negotiated harvesting agreements within the province.

To guide these eventual negotiations, Founding Delegates also adopted resolutions articulating foundational Métis values, including strong direction that conservation and preservation become primary aims and objectives in any future Métis harvesting agreement:

“Therefore the delegates of this assembly resolve that conservation and preservation of all the natural resources of these precious lands will be the primary aim and value which will guide the Metis Nation of Ontario in its negotiations regarding the regulation and management of resource harvesting.”

After a subsequent decade of legal action and negotiation, the Métis Nation of Ontario signed a landmark Harvesting Agreement with the Government of Ontario in 2004, which protected Métis communities in northern Ontario’s abilities to manage the harvest within their own communities in accordance with the Métis Nation of Ontario’s formal Harvesting Policy which enshrines conservation and preservation as foundational Métis harvesting values, stating:

“The Métis Nation believes that conservation of renewable resources is important and that they have a responsibility to preserve and protect those resources for the benefit of future generations”.

See Our Sources

• Record of Motions - MNO Founding Delegates Assembly

• MNO Statement of Prime Purpose

• MNO Harvesting Policy

• Framework Agreement on Métis Harvesting

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