Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think President Froh and Vice-President LeClair have said very eloquently what it means to be Métis. We are a distinct people. We have our own culture, our own language and our own governance structure. We have all of those things. One thing we haven't talked about is our humour; we have that, too.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think every indigenous governing body looking to Bill C-92 is at a different stage. For the Métis Nation of Alberta, we're in year three, I think, of building our authority, model of care and law. It takes time to do it right. We want to make sure we do it right. We don't want to be left, as soon as we do our coordination agreement, saying that we are now the authority over Métis children within Alberta and then get a whole bunch of files dumped on us.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I just want to thank you, honourable member, for your statement. I also want to say we have heard the myths and the first nations speaking out against the bill. Recently—actually, right after I was elected, in that same week—I went to a flag raising at a post-secondary school in Edmonton.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I don't think I can say any more than what President Froh has said. We have over 200 years of history of being the forgotten people, of being promised things and having lots of broken promises, and the bill and UNDRIP recognize that the Métis people have been forgotten about. We just need you to move forward and get this bill passed so that we can govern ourselves in the way that we have always believed that we have been doing.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. Failing to pass Bill C-53 will hurt all Métis people and the advancement of all indigenous people in Canada. Yes, it will affect all of us. That legislation is there to protect us, to protect our rights. Governments come and go, and we need that legislation to protect what we have built.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Again, Bill C-53 is about the Métis Nation of Alberta, and of Saskatchewan and Ontario. It's about the citizens who have chosen to be citizens of the Métis Nation of Alberta. We have citizens who live on those settlements. We have citizens who live in Fort McKay, Pincher Creek and Fort Vermilion.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Again, I think that the legislation and our self-government agreements do specifically say that it's Métis citizens of Alberta, those who have chosen to become Métis citizens. If they are not Métis citizens and they have not chosen to be Métis citizens, then they're not included in that legislation.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, over the period of time when we were doing consultation on our constitution, we did send numerous letters to the Metis Settlements General Council. We have Métis Nation of Alberta citizens who live on those settlements, so we very much wanted them to be involved in the process of the consultation on our constitution.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  For the Métis Nation of Alberta, as stated in my opening remarks, we had a ratification vote last November of our constitution. That was one step. Then, on September 19 of 2023, we had our first election under our new Otipemisiwak Métis government. It now goes from six regions to 22 districts and 25 people, including a women's representative, a youth representative and me sitting on a citizens' council.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We also said, in our comments, that this is reconciliation in action. For my late elder Francis Dumais, the word “reconciliation”.... He was a Cree speaker. There was no word in Cree for reconciliation. He always talked about setting things straight. “It's time for the government to set things straight.”

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll add to that and say again that the legislation does not talk about resources. It does not talk about land. It is about us. It's about our governance structure, our citizenship, our operations and our children, as Vice-President LeClair said, which is very important to all of us.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  For the Métis Nation of Alberta, we have over 61,000 citizens registered.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll just say something that we've said over and over in all of our opening remarks—Bill C-53 is about us. It's about the Métis Nation of Ontario, the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan and the Métis Nation of Alberta. It is about our governance structure. It is about our citizenship, our electoral process and our children.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Is my mike on?