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NWT's Metis divided but united

It's no secret that two of the territory's Metis groups are separated by more than the sprawling waters of Great Slave Lake. Court battles and ongoing land claim negotiations have divided the North Slave Metis Alliance and the NWT Metis Nation – deepening a schism that's rooted in Metis identity and Canada's tangled colonial past.

Bill Enge, president of the North Slave Metis Alliance (NSMA) is all smiles as he holds a copy of a federal court decision in front of the courthouse minutes after he received it in 2017. Enge says the history of Metis in the NWT, much like the rest of Canada, is complex. NNSL file photo

In April of 2017, a report recommended the two representative bodies work collaboratively to finalize a land, resources and self-government claim initiated by the NWT Metis Nation, whose members are the descendants of Slavey, Cree and Chipewyan people.

A year later, their relationship remains strained – but why? What's preventing a strengthened partnership between the two? And what lies at the heart of their differences?

In speaking with both Bill Enge, president of the North Slave Metis Alliance, and NWT Metis Nation head Garry Bailey, News/North learned the answer, much like the history of Metis identity in Canada, is complex.

Canada's Metis – the product of intermarriage between European settlers and Indigenous people in the 1800s – long stood in legal limbo, pushed to the margins by a government that didn't acknowledge the population as being Indigenous.

It wasn't until the country's landmark 1982 Constitution Act that the Metis were recognized – under Section 35 – as one of three Aboriginal peoples in Canada, along with the nation's "Indian" and Inuit populations.

Enge said the absence of a clear definition of who was Metis and who wasn't darkened an already grey area, setting the stage for today's discord between his alliance and the NWT Metis Nation.

It took two court challenges, he said, to "define who the Metis are for the purpose of the Section 35," – to determine who met the federally recognized distinction and the protected Indigenous rights that came with it.

In 2003, the Powley test was established – a set of criteria to determine who would be eligible to claim Indigenous rights as a Metis person. Self-identification as Metis, a link to a "historical Metis community," and a requirement to be accepted by a modern Metis community that exists "in continuity with a historic rights-bearing community," were stipulations included in the test, according to the online Canadian Encyclopedia.

Under the ruling, Metis people who passed the Powley test were granted the same hunting and harvesting rights as First Nations and Inuit people.

"(The alliance's) membership is comprised solely of Metis who pass the test, said Enge. "We only permit those who meet its criteria."

Enge said the NWT Metis Nation doesn't apply the test, therefore allowing "Non-Status Indians" into the collective – what he called the "dividing line between the North Slave Metis Alliance and the NWT Metis Nation."

The alliance also took exception to the NWT Metis Nation signing an Agreement-in-Principle (AIP) – the product of negotiations that began in 1996 – with the federal government in 2015.

The North Slave Metis Alliance filed a court challenge on the basis that the the agreement stood to have negative impacts on the Indigenous hunting rights of North Slave Metis people by lumping them into the same contract with the Crown.

Following the challenge, a federal report recommended the wording of the AIP be changed as to not pull North Slave Metis Alliance members into the agreement.

While Enge called the NWT Metis Nation's membership process an "insurmountable" sticking point, he said he isn't completely closed to the idea of the two groups coming together – if the Nation adopts the Powley test.

"If they don't want to apply the test, then we're prepared to be excluded and go it alone," said Enge.

Bailey, who represents the Metis in South Slave communities including Hay River, Fort Smith and Fort Resolution was more open to the idea of reconciliation.

"As far as we're concerned they're eligible to be in our (land claim) progress. We're fully supportive of the alliance and their goals. We just have to make sure it doesn't infringe upon what we're doing," said Bailey.

Both sides see progress their fight for Indigenous rights

"The courts have caught up recognizing rights, but the government is still dragging its feet when it comes to the Metis," said Bailey. Despite a 2016 Supreme Court ruling that Metis and "Non-Status Indians" are considered "Indians" under the 1867 Constitution, Bailey said NWT Metis Nation hasn't seen a dollar from the feds for programs and services, which have long been provided to First Nations and Inuit people.

"I want to create a home for our kids to come home to...they all move off into the city, forget about their culture and way of life because they're forced from their community," he said. "They've been taking from us for 120 years, now we need to work together so we can coexist in a respectful way."

Enge agreed he'd like to see core funding flow in from the federal government and echoed the promising progress for Metis people noted by Bailey.

"Metis culture remains strong, it's growing and it's getting stronger every day and we're not going to go away, no matter how long or how much the Crown wants us to disappear," said Enge.

"We're here to stay." said Enge.

Metis living in the Sahtu Region, along with Sahtu Dene, have been part of an Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement since 1993.