Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for inviting us here. My name is Melanie Omeniho, and I'm one of the national representatives of Women of the Métis Nation. I would also like to bring greetings from our spokesperson, Rosemarie McPherson, who was unable to be here today, and from the rest of our national board.
We appreciate the opportunity we have to make this presentation to you today. We believe it's important that we are given these opportunities so we can make recommendations and help be part of the solutions for improving the lives of Métis women in Canada.
Through the empowerment of Métis women, we believe our nation is stronger, and the mosaic of Canada itself is also strengthened.
First, it is important that we give you brief details about who we are. The Women of the Métis Nation is a Métis women's collective body representing Métis women from the governing members of the Métis Nation and it's officially mandated by the government of the Métis Nation to speak and represent Métis women's agendas and perspective nationally.
The Women of the Métis Nation serves as an advisory body with the Métis Nation governance structures and within the Métis homeland. The Women of the Métis Nation retain a seat on our board of governors and within our cabinet at the Métis Nation. They are the only recognized representative body that meets and addresses the needs of Métis women specifically.
Women of the Métis Nation partners and works with the provincial Métis women's organizations in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario, which makes up our Métis homeland, and through these relationships we believe we're able to maintain the capacity and ability to identify the priorities that have been established by Métis women from across that homeland.
Women of the Métis Nation has worked to strengthen our capacity by building from the community level. We address issues by working through consensus. We have developed a set of principles and protocols that guide us when addressing the issues faced by Métis women, and we believe our strength lies in working as a collective by using our cultural and traditional values to effect change that is important to Métis women and to the Métis Nation as a whole.
Historically, Métis communities were matriarchal in nature and women were equal partners in the development of their communities--politically, socially, and economically. As women of the fur trade era prior to colonization, they worked beside the men in building the buffalo pounds and scouting during the hunts, interpreting and teaching, hauling and skinning meat, and in addition they prepared the hides, made products, raised their children, and provided economically and socially for their families in communities.
Métis women played key roles in relationship building and survival of the community through many challenging times. Through oral history passed on by our grandmothers, we were taught a sense of pride, accomplishment, and stubbornness that assisted us in forging forward in spite of the environmental and economic situations we sometimes faced.
We were taught that Métis women are the inspiration and the heart of our nation, allowing our Métis leaders to move forward. The reality is, in today's economy, Métis women live multi-barriered lives that affect our economic security and advancement. Several issues must be considered in the development of economic security for us.
Métis women face issues related to employment and underemployment. Factors affecting Métis women that we can readily identify in addition to employment are racism, health care, child care, marginalization of our priorities, child and family services, housing, poverty, education and training, safety, access to entrepreneurial business ventures, and our lack of political empowerment to change the policies that relate to our overall well-being.
Women of the Métis Nation is committed to creating awareness of the issues our women face and to encouraging and supporting their participation in the social, cultural, and economic development of the communities--regionally, provincially, and nationally.
We understand that our economic security will rely on our ability to identify the barriers, recognize our strengths, and find solutions to overcome our challenges. Some of the priorities we are currently addressing relate to family violence, education, retention of our Métis cultural and traditional knowledge, and Métis women's health and wellness.
We know the majority of Métis women live in large urban settings, with 69% of our women living in cities and towns. Of these, 42% of the Métis women who have children are lone parents. We should note that Métis women are often the working poor and are challenged to provide their families with housing by inflation and the costs that are added to the family units by fees and levies.
In 2001, 56% of Métis women 15 and over reported that they were in paid employment; however, 30% of Métis women have incomes below the low-income cut-off. The Canadian public lives under the misconception that we have free education, free health care, and free housing, but there is no free anything.
Métis people pay taxes, and for education and housing, just like all other Canadian citizens. For Métis women to identify and develop economic security, we need to address the lack of social mechanisms that affect the working poor. Our women often work in areas where their contributions are undervalued.
Métis women in the contemporary world have not always been engaged in creating solutions to change our life circumstances or conditions in which we live because we were marginalized. As a result, there is a gap in statistical data on issues facing Métis women.
The research that has been conducted has focused on the barriers facing first nations women. Métis women's oppression is not just due to a lack of resources from government but often can be identified as the lack of statistical information that is available.
In order that we address the many issues facing Métis women, we need to work in partnership with the government to address the area of data collection for Métis women. It is a priority for women of the Métis nation to seek the resources that we require to build on statistical information that exists so that we can stop being the forgotten segment of society and our issues will be better understood.
Métis people are a part of the proud, independent culture where we seek to find solutions to better our way of life by building on our strengths. As Métis women, we recognize that a part of our economic security will be accomplished by attempting to create mechanisms to empower Métis women by taking back our traditional role within society. One of our priorities is bringing together our older Métis women and young Métis women and creating a system of passing on their traditional knowledge.
These types of strategies will once again strengthen the role of our women for generations to come. As part of this work, we have recently undertaken small initiatives to assist our women in networking through the teaching of our traditional crafts. It is the cultural exchange that brings the older women together with the younger women, so that they are able to share their stories and teachings. In addition, we are able to assist young Métis women in developing their skills in traditional trades and build on the opportunities to engage in entrepreneurial programming so they can be self-sufficient.
It is our belief that through our work in traditional knowledge, our young women will be active leaders in the future. We will have them working beside the leaders of today so that they are stronger leaders for tomorrow.
In closing, I'd like to thank the committee for giving women of the Métis Nation the opportunity to have our voices heard, and I want to leave you with a Cheyenne proverb: “A nation is not conquered until the hearts of its women are on the ground. Then it is done, no matter how brave its warriors and how strong its weapons.”
Thank you.