What impact would Bill C‑53 have on Métis youth?
Marc Miller Liberal
Report stage (House), as of Feb. 8, 2024
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This is from the published bill. The Library of Parliament often publishes better independent summaries.
This enactment provides for the recognition of certain Métis governments in Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan and provides a framework for the implementation of treaties entered into by those Métis governments and the Government of Canada. Finally, it makes consequential amendments to other Acts.
All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from the Library of Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.
Sylvie Bérubé Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
What impact would Bill C‑53 have on Métis youth?
Jordyn Playne President, Youth Council, Métis Nation of Ontario
Thank you, Chair and members of the committee.
I'm Jordyn Playne, president of the Métis Nation of Ontario youth council and the youth representative on the provisional council of the Métis Nation of Ontario.
I'm a descendent of Marguerite Dusome of Penetanguishene, a historic community along the shores of Georgian Bay. My community has a rich and long history of self-governing Métis people. We are rights-bearing community members of the Métis community of Georgian Bay under section 35 and have an inherent and constitutional right to self-government.
My Métis ancestors were forced off their lands, but always maintained their community around the upper Great Lakes. Today we celebrate our heritage through vibrant community councils, gatherings, youth cultural programming, Métis music and art and our traditional ways of life. We also celebrate the stories that connect first nations and Métis people. It is essential that we remember our shared history and the waters of Georgian Bay that hold the spirit of our ancestors. They continue to inspire us today.
That said, since the introduction of this legislation, misinformation has been spreading about Métis communities, driven by some Métis and first nations leadership. As a result, Ontario Métis students and young people are now living in fear of online misinformation and being subjected, at some points, to harassment at school.
It is not that Métis youth are questioning our identity. We are strong in our connections to our community and to our culture. It is our youth, like Hayden Stenlund, who spoke previously, who are continuing to pick up the fight of our ancestors to ensure that future generations find themselves better off than we are today.
This new-found concern stems from those who seek to undermine our very existence and leaves us wondering—and anxious—whether tomorrow might bring more hurtful accusations, and questioning how we can respond to this lateral violence.
While the Métis have always faced prejudice, our generation grew up at a time when Métis rights were affirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada. For the past 20 years, we have had rights recognition that was denied to our ancestors. In some cases, even instructors and professors are attacking Ontario youth on social media. In other cases, Métis young people are being bullied at school.
This is having a negative psychological impact on Métis youth. We cannot allow political division to damage the relationships between the first nations and Métis people in what is now Canada. As we all work together to walk the path of reconciliation together, we need to focus on the common ground we share.
We found plenty of this, on issues such as climate change, education, equitable access to health care and the need to take action on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, but we must also support one another in advancing our respective self-governments.
Bill C-53 will not only empower Métis governments to protect Métis children and families in the welfare system but also ensure that Métis youth get a real say in the programs and services provided by our Métis governments.
Bill C-53 will allow youth to have a voice. It will empower our young people to be in the dialogue with our Métis leadership and uplift our voices around shaping the laws and policies of our Métis government. It provides us with the autonomy to ensure that our people are taken care of in a way that is respective and representative of our own culture and ways of knowing. This legislation is truly reconciliation in action, and it enshrines in law the section 35 rights that our people were promised many years ago.
My ancestors and past leadership have fought for our right to self-govern and determine our collective paths forward. We have a historic opportunity to finish the work of our ancestors and build a Métis government that is rooted in our ways of knowing, being and culture. My Métis ancestors started to paddle the canoe forward in our journey towards self-government, and it is now the responsibility of Canada and our leadership to safeguard this journey for future generations.
I ask for your support of Bill C-53 to ensure not only that the people of today have protected rights of self-government but also that my children, my children's children and future generations are self-governing Métis people.
Melanie Omeniho President, Women of the Métis Nation - Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak
Thank you.
Before I start, I want to say how proud I am of Hayden. I've known Hayden since he was a very young man, and he does make my heart big.
Good afternoon. My name is Melanie Omeniho. I'm the president of Women of the Métis Nation-Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak.
I'd like to acknowledge that I'm joining you today from Treaty 6 territory, the motherland of the Métis nation.
Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak is the national Métis women's organization. It's democratically mandated to represent Métis women across the Métis nation motherland. LFMO plays a significant role in enhancing the social, cultural, economic, environmental and leadership space occupied by Métis women. We influence public policy and decision-making related to rights, priorities, concerns and aspirations of Métis women within the Métis nation and the Canadian government.
I'm here today speaking in favour of the passing of Bill C-53. Having reviewed the proposed bill, I'm heartened to see that, after the signing in 2019 with Canada and the Métis governments of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario, the relationship will be formalized by way of the passing of Bill C-53.
Métis people have long been seen as the “free men”. The Cree people gave us the name of “Otipemisiwak”: the people who governed and owned themselves.
This bill recognizes and acknowledges that Métis people have the right, based on section 35 of the Constitution of 1982, to actualize self-government. By way of law, this will further define that Canada will interact with the specified Métis governments, recognizing their right to self-govern.
This bill does not deal with land or land rights, as may have been heard through media. It speaks solely to the internal governance structures of the Otipemisiwak-Métis government, the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan and the Métis Nation of Alberta. It does not impact on other indigenous peoples or other people who are Métis who are seeking their own rights.
The bill recognizes the authority with respect to governance, operations and things like child and family services. Further, Bill C-53 speaks to our self-determination on who is Métis. This bill has no adverse impacts on other indigenous peoples. Métis rights are not subordinate to the rights of other indigenous peoples. There is no hierarchy of indigenous rights. This fact is spoken about within the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and even in the Supreme Court of Canada in the Powley decision.
With several recent examples of the swift passing of government bills on other indigenous nations, I would expect that there would be no impediment to the swift passing of this act.
Article 4 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states:
Indigenous peoples, in exercising their right to self-determination, have the right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs, as well as ways and means for financing their autonomous functions.
Further, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act states:
Whereas the Government of Canada recognizes that all relations with Indigenous peoples must be based on the recognition and implementation of the inherent right to self-determination, including the right of self-government;
Bill C-53 is simply validating what the Government of Canada has already committed to in its relationship with indigenous peoples. We speak strongly in favour of the work and look to offer our support with ongoing Métis gender-based intersectional analysis through the implementation of Bill C-53. It will take everyone's collective efforts to make this process a success and to empower this historic bill to be a driving force to advance reconciliation in Canada.
I look forward to joining with our other Métis nation leaders to ensure the swift passing of this bill supporting the Métis nation of governments and advancing our reconciliation.
Thank you.
Hayden Stenlund Student, As an Individual
[Witness spoke in Michif]
[English]
I am 17 years old. I have cerebral palsy. I am in grade 12 at St. Thomas Aquinas High School. I am a descendant of the half-breed adhesion to Treaty 3. My ancestors are from the northwestern Ontario Métis community in the traditional territory of Treaty 3—Rainy Lake, Rainy River, Lake of the Woods and Lac Seul. The Métis are a distinct people with our own way of life and language, which is Michif.
My family has strong roots in the northwestern Ontario Métis community. My ancestors were present in the area prior to Canada being Canada. The Métis in region 1 are grounded in our identity with regard to who we are and where we come from as people. I've known my roots and Métis identity since birth. I have become a strong advocate for Métis rights and interests. I was raised within a Métis community, and I've been constantly surrounded by strong regional Métis leaders who've advocated and defended our Métis community. My older sister Katelyne and I have been lucky enough to grow up in our Métis community since birth. My Métis family ensured we knew, understood and protected our Métis identity and way of life. From an infant, I was brought onto the lands and waters of my traditional territory to receive teachings regarding my way of life. Because of this, I am proud of, grounded in and aware of where I come from, who I am and my very Métis roots, as I know them.
My mother Regional Councillor Stenlund has always fought for the rights of the citizens in our area. She taught me that my community is rooted in the facts of history: where our ancestors come from, and our rights, interests and claims. We have these inherent rights.
The Crown knew we were a distinct people in 1871, when the Dawson Route came through my territory. Canada acknowledged the Métis in the community via the 1871 half-breeds of Fort Frances Dawson pay list, on which one of my own ancestors is listed. In 1875, Canada again formally acknowledged the Métis community in northwestern Ontario by signing a treaty with us—a half-breed treaty, a Métis treaty. Canada made promises to our Métis community with our Métis treaty adhesion in 1875.
Bill C-53 is a way for Canada to be honourable and to treat our Métis communities the same way as first nation communities with regard to our being able to govern ourselves. The passing of Bill C-53 is more than just a legislative bill on paper. It’s a way for Canada to treat us equitably and to acknowledge that Métis already govern ourselves. The passing of Bill C-53 is an opportunity for Canada to finally and formerly acknowledge our right to internal governance and authority over our citizenship, election processes and Métis child and family services.
I shared my story because I personally believe it's important for Canada to acknowledge and respect us. Our communities will have this legislation acknowledging us. How I was raised should not be compromised. My mom and the MNO should not have to continually stand up for and defend the citizens and our communities. I strongly believe Métis self-government will help us maintain our way of life and allow us to govern ourselves in the Métis way, for all of our future descendants. This is reconciliation in action.
I implore you all to realize the significance of what you are voting on. Think of how you can impact Métis families, communities and our way of life. Our citizens and future generations should not have to turn to the courts to defend our people and communities. Canada needs to act swiftly. This is your opportunity to pass this legislation to acknowledge our right to self-government.
Thank you all. Kawapamitin.
The Chair Liberal John Aldag
That takes us to the end of the time we have.
There are a couple of minutes left on the clock. I do have one item that I need to bring to the committee.
We're done with our questions. Thank you to each of the witnesses for being here today. It's a really important start to our study of Bill C-53. I think you set the stage very well for us.
Over the next three weeks or so, we look forward to hearing from more witnesses, culminating in hearing from the minister and officials. I'm sure you'll be watching the proceedings very closely.
I want to thank each of you, and I know there are members of your community who are here with you today joining us. Thank you for the very important testimony that you've given us.
Colleagues, before we go, there was a technical point we missed last Tuesday. It's been brought to my attention that through our routine motions, we require at least 48 hours between submitting amendments and starting clause-by-clause study. We moved the date because of the minister's delayed appearance, so now we need to move our clause-by-clause consideration from November 30 to December 5. I would like to make sure that's on the record and that we're all in agreement with that.
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. We were talking about it earlier today. We are funny people and we enjoy that.
When we think about forgotten people.... A couple of years ago I was taking a citizenship application in the region 2 office where I worked. The lady sitting across the table from me showed me her family tree. Her family tree listed my great-great-grandfather. She was denied her culture because a settler who married her great-great-grandmother told her that she couldn't tell her family; she couldn't be Métis anymore.
We cried about it in that office because she was my cousin and she had no idea where she came from. She had no idea that her family fought at the Battle of Batoche. She had no idea that my grandmother, who would have been an aunt of hers, was born under a Red River cart on a buffalo hunt in southern Saskatchewan.
These are the things Bill C-53 is about, as Vice-President LeClair said. It's about preserving our language and our culture so that our children and our grandchildren will know who they are. That's what it's about.
Yes, we did emerge as a new community. I always think of ourselves as the new Canadians, the first Canadians, the merging of cultures. Distinctly we have our own language, culture, values, and all of those sorts of things, and the history of our people, which is so important to look at. Think back to the days of the buffalo hunts and the way that families hunted together and that sort of thing. There are so many things that make us distinct.
A sad part of this whole conversation is the language aspect. It's important for you to know that the Michif language is only spoken in 0.5% of households in Saskatchewan. It's going to become an extinct language.
Things like BillC-53 are going to help to regain some of that language. We're doing work with schools, and so on and so forth, but we really have to dig down and ensure that we don't lose those really core things that make us who we are.
I don't know if I answered your question. I went all over the place, but—
Sure, and thank you very much, honourable member, for the question.
It ties into many of the questions that have been asked today. I think there are a lot of people within Canada who don't understand who we are as a people, which is why we're doing the work that we're doing.
You're exactly right: Our people emerged, and we emerged, as a new people in these communities that were distinct, that stood apart from their first nations relatives, that stood apart from their European ancestors as well, and that's exactly why we are recognized as one of the aboriginal peoples in section 35. That distinctness of language, culture and traditions in distinct communities that actually asserted themselves as distinct communities is a part of the beautiful and rich history of the Métis, and again, exactly why it is that we are recognized as a distinct people.
It's not at all about mixed ancestry. I think that's a common belief, but it doesn't capture the reality that we emerged as a distinct people, and that is why we're here today. That's what Bill C-53 is all about. It's recognizing that.
Marsi.
Thank you for the question.
I completely agree with Vice-President LeClair.
I think this is an incredibly important part of the bill: recognition of our governments as indigenous governing bodies. Give us the tools we need to utilize Bill C-92, if we need them. That is critically important.
I think she has done a beautiful job talking about the impact of many different colonial policies. The sixties scoop isn't just from the 1960s. There is a child welfare industry, and our Métis children are very much impacted by this. Bill C-53 recognizes our government's right to take care of our own children.
Thank you for the question.
There are some who are saying they don't want the bill to go forward. I understand that they are saying that it's going to impact their rights. As you've heard already, this bill is about our internal self-government. It impacts only our three Métis governments. It impacts only our citizens. It has no impact on any other indigenous people.
I want to come back to your last question, honourable member. I think it's important that the question you were asking was about an individual Métis in section 35. I think it's very important to point out that section 35 rights are actually collectively held rights. An individual can choose to become a citizen of a Métis government or not. It's actually the rights-bearing community that holds those rights. That's exactly who it is that we represent with our three Métis governments. We represent rights-bearing Métis communities, which means the people within our respective jurisdictions. That's what section 35 is all about and that's what Bill C-53 is all about. It's in recognition of that. It's recognizing our inherent rights of self-determination.
I think you've heard all of us say that this bill really is reconciliation in action. It is putting the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into action. I wanted to thank the honourable member for the question.
Article 3 specifically talks about indigenous peoples' rights to self-determination, and article 4 specifically talks about the right to have autonomy or self-government. Article 33 of the UN declaration speaks to the rights of indigenous peoples “to determine their own identity or membership in accordance with their customs and traditions”, and what you see in Bill C-53 is exactly that. It's a recognition of those inherent rights of self-determination and self-government. In fact, it's built right into Canada's national action plan on implementing the UN declaration; and as has been said before, I believe every time we see an indigenous nation being recognized and being respected in this way, it actually makes all of us stronger. It makes Canada stronger.
Marsifor the question.
Gary Vidal Conservative Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK
Thank you.
I'm going to interject, because I am seriously running out of time. I want to ask one more question before they kick me out of this place today.
This has taken a long time to get here. In my office, we've monitored some indigenous legislation over the last couple of years. You talked about Bill C-29, which was introduced on the last day before the summer break. Bill C-38, which we finally debated last Friday, was introduced on the last day before last Christmas, and 11 months later we're actually debating it in the House of Commons. Bill C-53 was finally introduced on the last day before the summer break in June 2022.
This has taken a long time. I think there were several promises, dates and expectations created for your leaderships by the government.
I'm going to start with you, Michelle. You keep getting cut off by being last, so I'm going to start with you.
Do you want to comment at all on what you think took so long, why it took so long, or why it took until the very last minute, when I know this was promised several times in advance of that?
Thank you for that question.
Thanks to all of you for having us here.
I think the easiest way to support that is to pass Bill C-53. The governments that are represented here at this table have established registries that uphold the national definition of “Métis” that was established by the Métis nation through the Métis National Council and ratified by every single one of our governments. When I was a kid, that decision was made.
That definition was then upheld when my community was put on trial. We were put on trial. I grew up in Sault Ste. Marie when Canada and Ontario were using all the resources of their justice departments to tell us that we didn't exist. Quite frankly, we overcame that because we're pretty resilient, but also because the facts of history are on our side. They were not on Canada's side.
The facts of history and the law are on our side. Work with us to support our governments to continue to expand the capacity of our registries to do that work. Then we can provide that support to those institutions that want to stamp out that disgusting thing that is happening in those institutions with people claiming something that's not theirs.
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. We have 61,000 citizens in Alberta. It's their choice on whether they want to be a part of the Métis Nation of Alberta, and it explicitly says that in the legislation.
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.