Metis residential school survivors are preparing to gather for a national conference next week in Saskatoon.
Metis National Council president Clem Chartier says there will be panel discussions about why Metis survivors have been denied compensation to this point:
“Basically, what we’re wanting to do is to have a national dialogue amongst ourselves. We’ll be having representatives, former students and perhaps some political leaders from Ontario to B.C., discussing the exclusion of Metis from the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement and examining why that is the case, what can be done, sharing experiences.”
Chartier says the delegates will be given a chance to express their feelings on being excluded.
He also says conference organizers will be providing clarification as to why some Metis have been included in the residential school settlement agreement, and others have not.
He is hoping they can bring some attention to this issue and come up with some new ways to approach various levels of government and the churches:
“But it is very difficult, and we’re just hoping that somehow we could strike a chord out there that the governments, federal and provincial, will decide to do something about this issue — because to leave the Metis behind, who experienced the same sorts of things that Indian children experienced in Indian residential schools that are being compensated and being dealt with, will leave a black mark on Canada.”
According to Chartier, if the Metis could afford to litigate, he can’t see how any court would not side with the former students — but adds they just don’t have the resources.