Government must meet 'unfulfilled promises', says Métis Nation of Ontario
CBC
The bell at the Sault Ste. Marie Métis Centre rang 171 times on Thursday to represent the "unfulfilled promises" the Crown made 171 years ago.
In 1850, government-appointed Treaty Commissioner William B. Robinson recommended on behalf of the Crown that the lands along the St. Marys River, upon which the Métis community resided, would be respected and protected. That land now makes up the downtown core of the city of Sault Ste. Marie.
But Mitch Case, a regional councillor with the Métis Nation of Ontario, said that promise never came to fruition. He said most people in the region are unaware of that history between the Métis and the Crown.
"A solemn promise from the Crown was just ignored and nothing was done," Case said. "It's really quite frustrating."
In addition to the symbolic bell ringing, Case said the Métis Nation of Ontario wrote a letter to Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Carolyn Bennett, requesting a formal negotiations process and exploratory discussions around the outstanding promises made in 1850.
In a written statement to the CBC, the Indigenous Services Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada said it would "carefully consider" the Metis Nation of Ontario's request, and looked forward to having discussions and exploring the matters further.
"In 2017, Canada and the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) signed a framework agreement that set out a process for working together to advance reconciliation and build a renewed government-to-government relationship," the statement said.
"While our focus to date has been on advancing self-government, we remain committed to continuing to work in partnership with MNO to make progress on other shared priorities for advancing reconciliation through our negotiation process formalized under the 2017 framework agreement."
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