Generations of Metis people have helped shape Canada’s rich cultural history.
Yet, in the London area, the Metis have gone largely unnoticed and unorganized.
That changed on the weekend when the Thames Bluewater Metis Council was officially born with the signing of its charter.
At first glance, it might be seen as just a symbolic gesture recognizing a shared history and culture, but the charter and its council will fill a geographical gap for services in Ontario for Metis people, the descendants of Indigenous women and fur-trading European men who are a crucial part of the development of Canada.
This council will serve Metis who live in an area stretching from Tillsonburg in the east, south to Lake Erie, west to Chatham and Sarnia and north to Goderich.
A new office will soon be up and running. “It means greater access to supports,” said Margaret Froh, president of the Metis Nation of Ontario. “It means the opportunity to develop a strong sense of Metis community right here in London and in doing that it will actually help to contribute to the fabric of London and the diversity.”
Kathleen Anderson, the council’s president, said about 300 people in the area are registered with them, but there are as many as 10,000 people in the area who self-identify as Metis.
The Metis Nation of Ontario already has 30 councils across the province, with long-standing groups in places in northern Ontario, and along the northern Great Lakes and Ottawa River that have historically been traditional territory.
But as communities and opportunities change, more Metis have moved to the south seeking employment and settling in larger centres. Councils in Windsor and Kitchener took turns working with London-area Metis, but Anderson said the distances to events were long and support wasn’t local.
Thirteen months ago, a meeting was held in London to see if there were the numbers and the interest to pursue full council status.
Anderson said the city of London was especially supportive and gave the group much-needed meeting space. And on Louis Riel Day, celebrated by the Metis on Nov. 16, the anniversary of the Metis leader’s execution, the city flew the Metis flag at city hall.
But there is much to be done to get connected with the community. Anderson said the council wants a message sent to all Metis people that “it’s safe, it’s not something you need to hide. It’s something we should all be very proud of because we are founding peoples of this country and it’s something we should all celebrate.”
The second priority is reaching out to the wider community to explain who they are and what their contributions have been to Canada. Already, the local council has been active in teaching Metis history in local schools of the Thames Valley and London District Catholic boards, Anderson said.
She added that a much larger Riel Day celebration is in the works for 2019.
It’s a particularly exciting time for the Metis Nation of Ontario as it enters reconciliation and self-government negotiations with the federal and provincial governments.
“That’s actually in our grasp and we look forward to hashing out that vision of Metis self-government in Ontario with Canada and Ontario,” Froh said.
This was the first new charter established in Ontario since 2012.
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