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- Ontario Métis Facts
- May 24
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 18
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MNO’s Founding Self-Government Vision
The Métis Nation of Ontario’s Founding Delegates Assembly took place from May 5 to 7, 1994 in Toronto.
Throughout the Assembly, attending Métis leaders from the seven historic Métis communities in northern Ontario and Métis communities from the prairies debated and adopted numerous resolutions intended to inform the MNO’s future direction.
This included unanimously adopting a mandate to negotiate Métis self-government with provincial and federal governments, as well as a founding articulation of the Métis Nation of Ontario’s vision for Métis self-government in the province:
“the Metis Nation of Ontario further believes that self-government means the uncontested authority to define and implement the full jurisdiction, rights, freedoms, powers and privileges of the Metis Nation”
Métis Nation of Ontario citizens have continued to build upon this founding Métis self-government vision and mandate at successive Annual General Assemblies, informing their Métis government’s distinctions-based rights recognition and implementation efforts to this day.
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“establish a legal defense fund”
Throughout the Métis Nation of Ontario’s 1994 Founding Delegates Assembly, delegates debated and adopted numerous forward-thinking resolutions toward the advancement of Métis self-government and rights recognition, including the defense of Métis harvesters and the exercise of inherent Métis harvesting rights in Ontario.
Among the Founding Delegates Assembly’s unanimously adopted resolutions was direction for, “the MNO [to] establish a legal defense fund & that the MNO and their communities establish fundraising in accordance with the by-laws”.
This timely resolution coincided with the unjust prosecution of numerous Métis harvesters, including Steve Powley of the historic Sault Ste. Marie Métis Community, who was charged for illegal harvesting the previous autumn and attended the MNO’s 1994 Founding Delegates Assembly alongside his family.
Nearly a decade later, Powley’s fight for Métis harvesting rights—by that time supported collectively by the Métis Nation of Ontario and broader Métis Nation—would lead to the Métis Nation’s landmark 2003 R. v. Powley victory at the Supreme Court of Canada.
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A Mandate for Harvesting Negotiations
The Métis Nation of Ontario’s 1994 Founding Delegates Assembly coincided with the unjust prosecution of numerous Métis harvesters, including Steve Powley of the historic Sault Ste. Marie Métis Community, who had been charged by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources for illegal harvesting the previous autumn.
In response, MNO’s Founding Delegates adopted numerous resolutions to defend Métis harvesters and the exercise of inherent Métis rights within the province, including Métis harvesting rights.
In addition to establishing a community-driven legal defense fund, MNO’s Founding Delegates provided authorization for MNO leadership to pursue negotiated harvesting agreements with the Government of Ontario, unanimously resolving that:
“the PCMNO Executive will be responsible for setting up a negotiating committee for hunting, fishing & harvesting rights.”
“A decade later, the Métis Nation of Ontario’s negotiation and legal rights recognition efforts would ultimately yield success, resulting in both the 2003 R. v. Powley Métis rights victory at the Supreme Court of Canada and groundbreaking negotiated 2004 Interim Harvesting Agreement with the Government of Ontario the following year—a moment that was universally celebrated across the Métis Nation, as this was the first Métis harvesting agreement anywhere in Canada and created a precedent for similar Métis rights recognition agreements in Manitoba and Alberta.
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“our most precious heritage”
In response to the unjust prosecution of Métis harvesters, 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.
At the same time, MNO’s Founding Delegates also adopted numerous shared Métis values intended to guide the Métis Nation of Ontario’s subsequent negotiations and legal rights recognition strategies. This included strong direction that:
“the Metis Nation of Ontario recognizes that the land and the natural resources which come from this land are our most precious heritage and form the lifeblood of all Aboriginal peoples”
This founding value remains enshrined within the Métis Nation of Ontario’s Harvesting Policy and Statement of Prime Purpose, which affirms that “We, the Métis are a people of the lands, which gave rise to our history and tradition and culture”, and establishes “protect[ing] and preserv[ing] the land and waters within our homelands for future generations” as one of the MNO’s foundational aims and objectives.
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“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”.
