This is something I have been speaking on for the last five years at schools, universities and private institutions.
There is a concept in indigenous politics called nationhood, which is central. Nationhood is not about blood. It's not about the mixture. I am not Métis because I am mixed. I am Métis because I have ancestors who were Métis and because there was an ethnogenesis of our people and nation. We have markers that show us to be a nation and a people—things like language and kinship, which are so important. If you have a Métis person living in Winnipeg and one living in Edmonton, Yellowknife, Lac La Biche or anywhere in the homeland, it's guaranteed that we are related. That cannot be said for any of those new communities in Ontario, which materialized all of a sudden in 2017.
We have other markers that identify us—cultural markers. We have clothing. If you look at both of our vests today, you will see a very distinctive type of beadwork. It is Red River Métis beadwork. It belongs to.... The Red River Métis is not Manitoba. I want to make that clear. The Red River Métis is the same as the historic Métis Nation. Our flag was flown at Red River. It was not flown at Sault Ste. Marie. The Red River cart and the Red River jig, as I said, are identifiers. It's about music, dance, food and culture.
Political action is also one of the primary things that political scientists point to. We can go all the way back to what is known as the Battle of Seven Oaks—or what we call the Victory of the Frog Plain—in the 19th century, through to President Louis Riel and the Red River and North-West...and into the 20th century, as well. That was political action, where we came together to assert our rights for how we live, and for our economies and land.
These are things that make a nation and a people. These things are absent when you look at those communities. They just recreated them using circular logic in Ontario, so it's not the same thing.