Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, primarily.

Canadian Heritage committee  Essentially, the Michif language is concentrated in the prairie provinces. We have our governmental infrastructures along with our cultural and educational institutes. I'm from northwest Saskatchewan and many of our schools are in our Métis villages. They are trying to deal with

Canadian Heritage committee  Recognition is very important. We've been put down and marginalized for so long. One big step forward was during the Charlottetown round in 1991-92. The Right Honourable Brian Mulroney came to Winnipeg during that process, and he recognized the Métis nation, which was good. Thro

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, I speak English.

Canadian Heritage committee  I can speak Michif; I can speak Cree—not fluently, which is very unfortunate, because I'm one of those victims of the residential schools who have not been recognized. I was at residential school for basically eleven and a half of my twelve years in school. I then had another fou

Canadian Heritage committee  Initially, the genesis of the Métis nation was through the fur trade and basically the voyageurs from primarily the Montreal and Quebec area. Historically, the mixed ancestry people evolved as the Acadians further evolved inland as the Québécois, and it's only in the far reaches

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes. Thank you. It is very important. Language is such a critical part of who you are as a people, and in this case, again, the Métis nation. The language, Michif, is such an important language to us, as are other indigenous languages, as I mentioned earlier, that some of our pe

Canadian Heritage committee  It's a question that I've been pondering for a while. The easy answer is to just put in several billions of dollars and we'll work it out, but I know that's not going to happen. I know there are many languages. Some are endangered. Some are extinct. People are trying to revitali

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, thank you.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, thank you. As you know, I've appeared before your committee in the past and I've given an explanation of the Métis nation and the people, our geographic territory and so on. I won't get into too much of that, other than, again, to reaffirm the Métis nation is a distinct peo

Canadian Heritage committee  I think June 21 should stay as is. If there is to be a second day, I think it should be in September. It should be a day of reflection, dialogue and commemorative ceremonies. I think there should be a modest budget for local communities and particularly schools to apply for, so t

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes.

Canadian Heritage committee  Okay. I'll try to be quick here. Basically in 2002, after years of consultation, our general assembly, which is the government of the Métis nation, did come up with criteria basically of self-identification, connection to a historic Métis community, and acceptance by the Métis n

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, I am.

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, that's a very broad term. As long as it's not tied to the 94 calls to action, if it's a broad statement—