I stated this, but I'll state it again. Primarily, it's because we were not included. The Métis nation was not included. The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement in 2006-2007 dealt only with residential schools that were paid for by the federal government.
I was on the floor of the House of Commons as leader of the Métis nation then, when the Prime Minister made the apology. I was there because some 200 Métis went to these residential schools. There are 200 fortunate Métis, because they got something out of it. It was unfortunate that they had to go, but fortunate because they were covered by the apology and got some compensation. However, we weren't. We raised it, and I raised in on the floor. We've been raising it since, but nothing has been done by the federal government. It's like we don't matter.
I see these orange shirts that say "Every Child Matters". I'd like to go and say, "Except if you're Métis", but I can't do that to every orange shirt that I see out there.
No government, Conservative or Liberal, is doing anything about it, and the reason is that it was church-run. They weren't funding the church to run residential schools for Métis, so we were excluded from the TRC mandate.
I attended two or three of them as an invited guest to go and make this message that we're still there. We pleaded with the commission to put in a specific resolution that the Île-à-la-Crosse school be dealt with. They put in a weak resolution along the way that all the rest should be dealt with, but we weren't addressed and we're still not being addressed. I didn't read it for that purpose, because...what for?
Even this body that's being set up isn't for us; it's for others. I hope it goes ahead for the benefit of others, but it's hard for us to embrace it, because we're excluded. It's similar to when the Province of Quebec was left out in September of 1981 in Canada's Constitution. People who are excluded don't feel like participating to the greatest degree possible. We should continue working the way we have been.
The Métis nation has made substantial strides—don't get me wrong—particularly over the life of this past government. For example, in four federal budgets, we got over $3 billion. That was the first time in our history we were included in the federal budget. The government is trying to do other things.
One of the things the government also did, which you should keep your eye open for, was amend the Indian Act less than a year ago or so. That's thrown the doors wide open. All of a sudden, half of my nieces and nephews at home are applying for Indian status. My brothers and sister aren't, but because it was so wide open.... We have no connection to the Indian community, but it's been thrown wide open.
It's doing a disservice to the Métis nation and its citizens, and doing a disservice to the Indian community, to have all these people coming. It's the same across a lot of Canada. People who have mixed ancestry are coming forward, saying, “We're Métis now, because we found some great ancestor some way back in the generations”—