MNBC on a Slippery Slope

(December 4, 2024) Métis Nation British Columbia (MNBC) is on a slippery slope heading for irrelevancy. A Métis Nation Governing Assembly (MNGA) this past weekend voted for MNBC to pull out of the Métis National Council (MNC) and go it alone. Although the vote itself was done during the open portion of the virtual meeting, the live-streaming of the discussion and debate on the issue was shutdown preventing most people watching from being privy to the discussions or hear any of the debate. How does shutting down the live-streaming on such an important issue as this meet the definition of transparency? It doesn’t.

 

Let’s take a quick walk through the last few years to see how this situation unfolded:

 

• January 2021 – The then MNBC Board of Directors removed former President Clara Morin Dal with one of the main reasons being her position to support the continued suspension of Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) from the MNC for failing to follow the national definition of Métis when granting Métis citizenship to individuals.

• September 2021 – the Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) withdraws from the MNC over the issue of MNO and its pending return to the MNC

• September 2021 – At a Special Sitting of the MNC General Assembly held in Saskatoon, MNBC’s Board of Directors, under the leadership of the then Acting President Lissa Smith and with the support of the now current President of MNBC actually moves the motion to end the suspension of MNO from the MNC, and the motion passes.

• September 2024 – Métis Nation Saskatchewan Provincial Council withdraws from the MNC with one of the reasons stated being the issue of MNO representing “…significant numbers of people who are not Métis…”

• November 2024 – MNBC withdraws from MNC attributing the decision to the current “governance structure” of the MNC. Surprise surprise - no mention of the issue of MNO.

 

MNC played a solid leadership role for Métis people between 2017 and 2019 in delivering the Canada-Métis Nation Accord and six Sub-Accords for funding tens of millions of dollars each year to Métis provincial organizations including MNBC, but MNC began to fall apart in September 2021 when MNO was let back into MNC (with MNBC’s full support) and MMF withdrew.

 

Back on October 2, 2021 Ms. Morin Dal Col called the position by MNBC to let MNO back into the MNC “…a serious error in judgement that will do long-standing damage to the Métis Nation…” but the MNBC Board of the day thought they knew better. Well guess what – Ms. Morin Dal Col was right and the Board of the day was wrong – dead wrong and the evidence is overwhelming. Was any of this mentioned during the MNGA’s decision to withdraw from the MNC? We don’t know because the discussion all occurred when the live-streaming was shutdown.

 

 

Shortly after the MNGA wound up its meeting, MNBC issued a statement that said (in part) “MNBC looks forward to working directly with the Government of Canada to make life better for all Métis in British Columbia”. And how’s that going to work?  In an FAQ put out by MNBC regarding whether funding would be affected, the FAQ stated: “There will be no change to MNBC’s current funding agreements. Future agreements with the Government of Canada will be negotiated directly.”  

 

The millions of dollars that MNBC receives each year are the result of the Canada-Métis Nation Accord signed in April 2017, and six sub-accords signed between 2017 and 2019. Those agreements were the result of hard work and negotiations involving then President of MNC Clem Chartier, MMF President David Chartrand and then President of MNBC Clara Morin Dal Col and senior officials. Those agreements did not just happen. They involved developing working relationships and trust between all the players. Let’s be clear – no one from the current MNBC Board was involved in any of the negotiations for those multi-million dollar agreements.

 

When the next federal election takes place in 2025 there is a strong likelihood that there will be a change of government. Should that happen, the new government may well decide to reduce or even eliminate funding some of those sub-accord agreements as part of its efforts to reduce the federal deficit which currently stands at $40 billion. Can they do it? Of course they can because each year of funding in those agreements is subject to approval of the federal budget in Parliament. If the government of the day decides to reduce or eliminate the funding, it simply won’t be put into the budget. And what will MNBC and its 300 plus staff do then when their money from Canada begins to dry up?

 

A lone Métis organization from the West Coast that can motivate only 12.5% of their citizens to vote in the organization’s last general election, and less than 1% of the organization’s 22,000 eligible voters participated in the organization’s last AGM has a problem – a big problem. And the problem will really come into focus when they will be one of dozens and dozens of Indigenous organizations from across the country looking for money from the next federal government, and come up empty.

 

Former MNBC President Clara Morin Dal Col who on behalf of Métis people in British Columbia signed the Canada – Métis Nation Accord in April 2017 and signed every one of the 6 sub-accords for funding the millions of dollars says, “MNBC is on a slippery slope to becoming irrelevant. The evidence is there when they get such a poor turnout for a general election, and very few people participate, even online, in their AGM. And now they can’t even fill some vacancies in regional positions for Métis Youth and Women. Something is terribly wrong with this picture.”

 

Ms. Morin Dal Col says, “As I correctly predicted back in October 2021 as to what would happen to the Métis Nation when MNBC supported bringing MNO back into the fold, I am predicting now that MNBC really will become irrelevant when the federal money tap gets turned off as early as 2026.”

 

She says, “I am hearing from a lot of Métis Citizens who have become tired of MNBC and their empire of 300+ staff, and this latest move to discuss an issue as critical as leaving or staying with MNC and shutting off the livestream sent a terrible message to MNBC Citizens who had every right to hear the discussion.” Ms. Morin Dal Col says, “Many MNBC Citizens are looking for a new path, and I won’t let them down. Please stay tuned.”

 

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For further information:

Contact Clara Morin Dal Col

BC Métis Leader

Email: cmdalcol@gmail.com