One of the candidates vying for the position of president of the Provincial Metis Youth Council is hoping a return to traditional hunting and trapping can help improve food security for the province’s Metis people.
Jade Rooney is one of three people vying for the position at an upcoming election in early November.
Here is Rooney’s vision statement posted on the MN-S election website:
“It is my vision for the Métis Youth, to build practical life skills through the lens of tradition. I want to establish food security for the Métis, as well as build a mentorship program, that has a focus on culturally significant activities.”
Rooney lives in Milestone, works as a powder coater, but spends most of his time trapping in the area.
“I try to eat exclusively wild game as often as I can, but McDonald’s can get in the way when I am in the city from time to time,” Rooney joked when speaking with MBC News about the election.
When the election was called Rooney says he was interested and spoke to a few Metis leaders who encouraged him to run.
As a trapper, the cornerstone of Rooney’s campaign is built around his food procurement plan, which he hopes will use traditional Metis practices of hunting, trapping and gathering to bolster food security for Metis people in the province.
“With my background as a trapper and involvement in the trapper’s association, I really want to bring that back to the forefront and get youth involved in it,” said Rooney. “I completely understand that not everyone wants to hunt and trap, and that’s totally fine, but what I do think would be a step in the right direction would be a plan to get traditional foods and meats on the plates of every Metis citizen in Saskatchewan.”
Rooney’s plan would involve developing a relationship with bison ranchers and a feed bank where people can provide food from their homegrown gardens.
“We see the price of groceries going up, so I think as a nation and as a people, we need to find a way to mitigate that,” said Rooney. “We have seen supply line shortages all though this pandemic and I don’t see that changing any time soon, so I think food security is a real issue.”
In addition to the food security plan, Rooney hopes to help develop a mentorship program to help Metis youth connect with elders and learn many traditional cultural things.
As a part of that, Rooney says he would advocate developing a process where every Metis high school graduate would receive a Metis sash from the MN-S upon graduation.
“I think it is a good way to welcome them into adulthood and to commemorate them on their achievements,” he said. “It’s a real cultural and historic piece of clothing and I would love to see everyone have one and we can all celebrate these achievements in the nation.”
Rooney will be running against Cody Demerais and Autumn LaRose-Smith in the upcoming PMYC election. MBC News will be profiling all candidates this week. More information on each candidate can be found here.
The election will take place online at mnselection.ca over a two-day period on November 5 and 6 and is open to any Metis citizen ages 16-29.
Whoever is elected will be involved in helping all Provincial Metis Council decisions especially those affecting Metis youth.
(Photo courtesy of Jade Rooney)