MNC signs agreement with Northwest Territory Metis Nation in Edmonton

By Jeremy Appel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 

(ANNews) – Metis National Council (MNC) President Victoria Pruden was in Edmonton on March 9 to sign an agreement with the Northwest Territory Metis Nation (NTMN) to advance shared priorities, which could potentially lead to the NTMN eventually joining the MNC. 

Pruden signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with NTMN President Garry Bailey at a ceremony at the Chateau Louis Conference Centre, with representatives of the local Otimpesiwak Metis Government (OMG) and Metis Nation of Ontario in attendance, as well as former MNC president Cassidy Caron. 

After Pruden and Bailey each provided introductory remarks, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Rebecca Alty spoke via video feed.

The MOU includes a one-year work plan that will be revisited, but its contents are “evergreen,” Pruden told Alberta Native News in an interview. 

“As we shift and change what the Metis National Council looks like governance-wise, [the MOU] could evolve into something more substantive,” she said. 

One of the key shared priorities identified by both Pruden and Bailey was pushing the federal government to implement the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2016 Daniels Decision, which Pruden noted was approaching its 10-year anniversary. 

The ruling recognized Metis and non-status First Nations people as “Indians” under the Constitution Act, meaning the federal government has a fiduciary responsibility towards them. 

“We’ve still seen no major movement or commitment on the fiduciary responsibility for programs and services for the Metis nation,” Pruden said, noting that Metis people were excluded from Jordan’s Principle funding, which was given to First Nations to ensure that they can provide social supports for their members.  

Bailey agreed that it was time to hold the federal government “accountable and start getting some action on the Daniels decision.” 

“Doing that nationally, bringing a northern perspective as well, is going to move things a lot faster,” he told this newspaper. 

It made sense for the NTMN, which has about 2,800 members, to pool its resources with the 100,000 members of the OMG and Metis Nation of Ontario, said Bailey. 

While he hopes the agreement “goes further,” Bailey noted some incongruence between the MNC’s bylaws and the NTMN’s governance structure that needs to be addressed before the NTMN is eligible for full membership. 

According to the MNC’s bylaws, each member organization’s provincial executive must be directly “elected by Province wide [sic] ballot.”

The NTMN president, vice president and secretary, however, are elected by 100 delegates from its three constituent communities – Fort Resolution (Deninu), Fort Smith (Thebacha) and Hay River (Xatlo Dehe) – at an assembly.

The MNC, which acts as an umbrella organization advocating for Metis communities at the federal level, has lost more than half its member organizations over the past five years. 

The Manitoba Metis Federation withdrew from the MNC in 2021 and Metis Nation-Saskatchewan followed suit in 2024, with both citing the inclusion of the Metis Nation of Ontario, which has been accused of allowing non-Metis members to join.

The Metis Nation of B.C. (MNBC) also left the MNC in 2024 over concerns regarding its governance structure. 

Pruden, who is a member of the MNBC, said that there have been “lots of good, positive conversations” with Metis communities outside the MNC fold. 

“We’re looking at opportunities for us to really play a role, not dictating, but convening and supporting collaborative conversations on areas of policy and priority that we share,” Pruden explained.

She said the August 2025 summit for Metis leaders Prime Minister Mark Carney convened to discuss the Building Canada Act gave her the opportunity to engage with some of them, including the NTMN. 

The Manitoba Metis Federation, however, boycotted the event, as did the MNBC after it was only invited as an observer. Other communities weren’t invited, such as the Fort McKay and Fort Chipewyan Metis nations in Alberta, which aren’t part of the OMG.

OMG president Andrea Sandmaier told Alberta Native News that the MOU with NTMN was a “great step” towards “unity among the Metis governments in the homeland.” 

“We can do great things when we’re doing them together, and we have lots of priorities in common,” Sandmaier said in an interview.