Count Me In!: A National Definition

As the landmark Métis rights case, R. v. Powley, based in the historic Sault Ste. Marie Métis Community in the Upper Great Lakes, worked its way through the courts, the Métis Nation—through the Métis National Council—collectively undertook several years of collaborative consultations, discussions, and debates to reach a shared National Definition for citizenship in the Métis Nation.

Creating a National Definition for Métis was an act of Métis Nation self-determination in preparation for the Powley case eventually being heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.

A paper entitled Count Me In!: A National Definition of ‘Métis’ for Enumeration and Registry, presented to delegates at a 1999 National Métis Rights Conference, led by the National Métis Rights Panel—which was chaired at the time by MNO President Tony Belcourt—described why creating a National Definition was of urgent and vital importance:

“If we can not agree on one definition to explain who we are, then the courts, in hunting and fishing, or land rights cases, will decide for us. Or the Government itself might try to define us all by itself, as it did with the status Indians… Because we can not control when the courts may decide on a definition, we should agree on a national definition as soon as possible.”

These consultations, collaboratively advanced by Métis Nation representatives from Ontario to British Columbia, ultimately led to the Métis National Council’s unanimous adoption of the 2002 National Definition shortly before R. v. Powley was heard by the Supreme Court. The National Definition affirmed that:

“Métis means a person who self-identifies as Métis, is distinct from other Aboriginal peoples, is of historic Métis Nation Ancestry and who is accepted by the Métis Nation.”

Based on the understandings unanimously reached by the MNC General Assembly, MNC’s Co-Counsel in R. v. Powley, Clement Chartier, confidently asserted to the Supreme Court of Canada that: “The right to determine who is a member of the Métis Nation rests with the Métis people themselves… Sault Ste. Marie is part of the larger Métis Nation… The people who stand charged before you today are descendants of the historic Métis Nation.”

See Our Sources

• National Métis Rights Conference Delegates Kit, 1999

• MNO Submissions to the MNC Expert Panel

• MNC Expert Panel Final Report

• MNC’s Supreme Court Factum in Powley

• Clement Chartier Presents MNC’s Powley Intervention at SCC

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