On the heels of a recent federal funding proposal, the head of the Metis Nation-Saskatchewan is revealing the dire financial position it’s in.
It’s no secret that the MN-S has struggled since the Conservatives cut off its funding in late 2014 because the MN-S hadn’t held its required legislative assemblies in the previous four years.
A few months later, the MN-S’s office doors closed and all of its staff let go.
At this point, the MN-S doesn’t even have money to pay for its office’s dumpsters, said President Robert Doucette.
The MN-S’s assets add up to more than $2 million and they need to be protected, he said.
“There’s a total urgency. We’re two and a half months behind on our rent and on the power bills and on the phone bills and the heating bills – nothing’s been paid.”
With that reality upon it, the MN-S is prepared to agree to the conditions of a Liberal government proposal that was put forth in December.
On the weekend, all sides in the often-divided Provincial Metis Council agreed to move forward on the federal proposal, which will have a third party manage the MN-S’s affairs, and funds, leading up to the mandated legislative assembly.
Regardless of political stripes, the leaders at MN-S see what’s being offered as a common-sense solution, Doucette said.
“These are no-brainer issues. We need to just get that third party, start paying those bills, protect those assets.”
Doucette credits the new Liberal government’s Indigenous Affair Minister Carolyn Bennett for finding some common ground.
“I do believe that third party will allow us that space of trust amongst all of the individuals sitting around a table to understand that this isn’t about politics, this is about doing the right thing and protecting those assets and getting to that MNLA and getting to the next destination where we need to be to ensure that our people and their needs are met,” he said.
Doucette emphasized the need to get back to the real issues for his people.
“There is a new environment and a willingness at many different tables. And if we are not functioning and working together and dealing with the issues of our people, and our daily issues like poor housing, poor health,” suicides, the Sixties Scoop and land and hunting rights, he said, “and we’re in a continuous state of flux, then really at the end of the day the biggest losers are Metis people.”
A meeting – possibly next month – will see the leaders sign the dotted lines, and money will start flowing in.
The aim is to hold a Metis Nation Legislative Assembly (MNLA) sometime after April.
As one might expect, there are still differing viewpoints from Doucette’s faction and Vice-President Gerald Morin’s faction.
For example, Morin wants to hold many meetings leading up to the MNLA, while Doucette wants to move as quickly as possible with one or two meetings beforehand.
Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada previously confirmed that the government has been “working with the leadership of the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan to support the organization in overcoming its current challenges and reaffirming its role in representing the interests of the Métis people of Saskatchewan.”