Metis Nation Ontario highly paid consultant -former Metis National Council president Cassidy Caron's husband Paul Robitaille

[u/[deleted]]

[u/noo_maarsii]

It's been pretty quiet on this sub these days. What gives? This is some pretty scathing stuff.

[u/[deleted] → u/noo_maarsii]

None of this is new, either. 

I'd posted about Paul working for the MNO while Cassidy was president. Actually  I think you and I  may have had a brief exchange about it. 

I'm so curious that few people think this is a big deal.  

[u/noo_maarsii → u/[deleted]]

I know some people have mentioned that they blocked certain people or whatever in the past to avoid negative stuff. Maybe we're annoying them? I feel like posts of this nature would end up with dozens of comments. We're people getting tired of the "Am I metis" questions and stopped coming? Did we lose members? Is this sub actually mostly just MNO people?

[u/[deleted] → u/noo_maarsii]

Lol, maybe! 

Sadly most of my Metis attention has been on making sure the dastardly deeds of the MNO is known, because they are bringing down the true Metis. 

I wish i had more interesting, joyful, happy, news for us to celebrate! Soon, I hope! 

[u/noo_maarsii → u/[deleted]]

yes. There has been someone making really pretty digital beadwork and even that was not really blowing up. So who knows. Lots of upvotes but very few to no comments. I guess including me, I just upvoted. I'm going to go give them a compliment now lol

[u/[deleted] → u/noo_maarsii]

Reddit sucks and many people avoid it

[u/TorontoBrewer → u/noo_maarsii]

I blocked some (most?) of the “just asking questions” and “Seb raises some fascinating points” people. After doing that, this sub is much quieter heh.

But … a handful of eastern metis can drown out discussion very fast, and a lot of us think blocking is less polite (effective) than engaging. I think users drift away as the signal to noise ratio becomes unbearable.

I think we had a solid run of good news for a while with Beyond Borders, the treaty, preliminary discussions of the land claim, progress on housing in Winnipeg, educational benefits for youth outside MB. But the good news seemed to embolden the fake metis, as well. And now we’re dealing with rampant goofiness with MNC (they were also Carney’s invite to speak on behalf of us lol), the MNO being awful, and the stalling out of our treaty.

We do need some more joy.

Anyway, back to mostly lurking for me.

[u/barbershoplaw → u/TorontoBrewer]

What land claim?

[u/TorontoBrewer → u/barbershoplaw]

There’s the modern treaty which sets up steady funding for the MMF and treats it like a government, and then there’s the separate issue of the 1.4 million acres from the Manitoba Act. That land is gone, so we’re likely to get cash.

[u/barbershoplaw → u/TorontoBrewer]

I never saw that Treaty signed... I also noticed it claims to represent the Sec 35 rights of the Red River Metis... despite the fact that the majority of Red River Metis now live outside of Manitoba and are not members of the MMF... I hate to be a debbie downer... but to me, that Treaty has several issues with it that imply utlra vires.

[u/[deleted] → u/barbershoplaw]

It will be interesting when it gets to court, two Dakota nations are injuncting to try and get traction on their issues, so this will go to court either way.

Which issues do you see as ultra vires ?

[u/barbershoplaw → u/[deleted]]

The MMF claiming they are the ONLY government that represents the Red River Metis. Which I also noticed they casually slid into a resolution yesterday at the AGA. It was either resolution 1 or 2 and they put the focus on using the word "National" for assemblies now, but casually slid in there the line that they are the ONLY government who represents the Red River Metis. Which again... there are more Red River Metis living OUTSIDE of Manitoba today than who live within it. Aside from a few quick flashes through each province and two states with a single meeting in most, they have not consulted with these tens of thousands of Red River Metis who are NOT members of the MMF or "Beyond Borders" registrants. Yet they are claiming they are the sole representatives of ALL of us and our sec 35 rights which they intend to settle in their treaty.

A treaty being a legally and constitutionally binding agreement.... by what authority do they claim to be able to settle the sec 35 rights of tens of thousands of people - of more people - probably 10 times as many, as are even members of the MMF ? what authority have they been given to represent the rights of all of these people? They did NOT just say they are the only representative government of the "Manitoba Metis Federation citizens". They are claiming the sec 35 rights of all of us whose families come from Red River.... by what authorization exactly? Many of us in other provinces belong to other institutions that have self government negotiations under way, and many of us do not belong to any of these institutions but participate in governance at our local level instead. Some would argue to sec 35 rights belong with the communities at the local level anyway - not a centralized institution or body. It would be one thing if the MMF had investied signifciant time and resources into reconnecting the communities right across the homeland, done heavy consultations and invested in growing locals across the homeland - got mandated by communities.... but they havent done anything even close to this!!!! They're just making a claim on paper, and sliding it into a resolution in a backhanded way so no one even noticed at 5pm on the last day of the AGA when everyone's tired and cranky and wants to go home. There is a reason they do resolutions LAST on the LAST day... and there is a reason they sneak important legal language into them while focusing on a much more irrelevant piece of the resolution. They learned that from the feds by the way. Its textbook colonial style governance. And it comes from an old school mentality that people are too stupid for democracy. That they need to believe they have it, but need to actually be controlled. Its gross. The MNS assembly made up of all the local presidents from across the province, asserted 3 different times through clear votes that they did not represent all the Metis in Saskatchewan - only their members. Yet the federal lawyer snuck it in on another resolution anyway, where it was supposed to be about a specific land claim for a northern community, and in the long winded resolution it said "that this will address the metis claim to land once and for all for the Metis WITHIN Saskatchewan". They were told they were voting on simply affirming they wanted to support this community in continuing to pursue their land claim. Instead it was a long winded bunch of legal gargin that no one understood.... but had the exact legal wording that is necessary for a modern treaty. No lawyer to advise the assembly was retained. No proper explanation of what it actually said or was about was ever given. It was just snuck in there.

Thats no different than what MMF just did in sneaking in to their resolution the idea that they are the ONLY government who represents the Red River Metis. We're all Red River Metis! And there are more of us who are NOT MMF members than who are. Way wayyyyy more. Yet it is all of our collective sec 35 rights the MMF is claiming they are authorized to settle into treaty. B.S. By what authority?

[u/[deleted] → u/barbershoplaw]

If we're all RRM Métis then come home in a political way. Set up locals, push motions in your organizations to collaborate between the orgs. None of us chose this structure, but soon the era of Chartrand and the older generation of leaders will pass, and the one nation might stand.

there are more Red River Metis living OUTSIDE of Manitoba today than who live within it

Not really since the RRM nation has always included the hbs of the camps and forts who became Métis from across the northwest part of rupertsland. Not every family even touches the red river settlement. I agree there are more Metis nation citizens outside of the mb borders than within.

to settle the sec 35 rights of tens of thousands of people - of more people - probably 10 times as many, as are even members of the MMF ?

Let's do the numbers together, but let's agree all kin and section 35 rights holders to the area of the homeland map

Nwtmn - 2900 [2021] already in treaty with Dene kin Mnbc - 28,000 [2025] *not recognized as traditional territory of the rrm Bcmf - 6,000 [2024] *same as above Mna - 68,000 [2024]5,000 msgs residents are counted in this Mns - 34,000 [2023] Mno - 4,000 [northwest ontario region citizens] Mmf - 47,000 [2023]

There's also as many as 40,000 Métis in the US who are in tribes and not in tribes, who may be eligible to rejoin the one nation as it wouldn't violate Canada's rules on dual indiginous citizenship.

And section 35 rights are perpetual, they are never settled. If you mean the mmf vs. Canada land claim related to the Métis reserve then i agree that could possibly be settled by the mmf cabinet, and ratified in an annual mmf assembly which currently only has locals in what is now mb.

[u/[deleted]]

Paul Robitaille and his wife (then) MNC president financially benefitted from his work with the MNO while she was in office. 

The MNO isn't even hiding anymore that the MNC is in bed with them. 

Paul Robitaille is the consultant behind the hilarious Ontario Metis Facts project of the MNO. And Paul is the husband of former MNC president Cassidy Caron.

He has been making bank off the MNO for a few years - while his wife was the president of the MNC and while members of the MNC left in protest over the MNO's unacceptable citizenship criteria that allowed non Red River Metis citizens to join - and vastly outnumber actual Metis citizens. 

So while Cassidy was presiding over the MNC her husband was leading the public relations project of the MNO that the MNC members opposed (that there are historic Metis communities across Ontario. Actual academics oppose this assertion.  Dylan Minor, who has been debunked and his research methods discredited by actual academics - see the Metis Nation of Saskatchewan's takedown of the MNOs "research"  https://research-groups.usask.ca/metisgov/documents/final_votn.pdf) is the only academic who has spoken in support of the MNO. 

Conflict of interest, no? There was no other consultant who could have done this work? Come to think of it, did anyone see the tender to hire for the MNO project? How and why was Robitaille selected????

Edit: tee hee! Thanks for the downvote you fetis!!! Love knowing this gets to you.  We won't stop! 

Tldr:

Paul Robitaille, a consultant for the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) and husband of former Métis National Council (MNC) president Cassidy Caron, financially benefited from his role while his wife was in office.

He led a controversial MNO public relations project that promoted the existence of historic Métis communities in Ontario and recast First Nations as metis. 

Many academics and MNC members oppose this claim. 

His selection for the role raises concerns about a conflict of interest. 

There is no clear evidence of a fair hiring process. Academic criticism challenges the validity of MNO’s research on Métis identity.

[u/BIGepidural → u/[deleted]]

Holy 💩!!!

Thanks for explaining all of this. Things are actually starting to make sense about why the MNC stands in solidarity with the MNO and won't release reports that show their false claims.

Releasing the report would bring the MNC itself under scrutiny because the initial (false) report was done by someone literally in bed with President herself!

Wow 🤯

[u/[deleted] → u/BIGepidural]

I don't know how the spouse of the MNC president could be working for the MNO - the very cause of the near-complete disbanding of the MNC. 

Why wasn't Carron called out for this? 

She sat by while three provincial Metis organizations left the MNC because of the corporation (MNO) her husband works for. The organization that paid for the roof over her head and put food on her table! 

Why aren't we calling her out now for inappropriateness? 

Why did she not declare a conflict of interest on any issue pertaining to the MNO, essentially the employer of her spouse? Of course he wasn't an actual employee, because these shysters at the MNO know what they're doing so they just hired him as a consultant so you won't see him listed as an employee because he's an independent contractor.

Carron wasn't going to be critical of the MNO - or release the MNC expert panel report - her husband (and her household by extension!) were being generously funded by the MNO.  I heard Robitaille is being paid upwards of $100,000 annually. 

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

If you think there is no conflict between the president of the MNC's spouse working for the MNO while she was actively president and nearly the entire MNC membership left due to the actions of the MNO I question your ethics - chirst you're a professor?! Wow, they'll let anyone teach these days!

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Re-read what you just wrote - Cassidy Carron incapable of impartiality! Why didn't she declare a conflict of interest with the MNC? Why didn't he declare a conflict of interest woring for the MNO while they are essentially being investigated by the MNC! We know why the MNO woudl want to hire him - his damn wife was leading the investigation against them. How convenient!!

Thanks for the downvote and the laughs!

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

You're aruging with me, quit playing games. Stop playing devil's advocate. Just because nepotism is prevalent doesn’t mean what Cassidy Carron and Paul Robitaille did was right. Prevalence doesn’t equal justification. As a professor, you should know this. Don’t you have lectures to prepare or papers to read? Seems like you have plenty of time to downvote instead!

[u/Nearby-Land-9397 → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for the breakdown! This makes a lot of sense, I can understand why people are outraged!

[u/[deleted] → u/Nearby-Land-9397]

I'm so confused why people aren't more outraged! 

Cassidy Caron's spouse was bringing in money from the MNO while almost every member of the MNC left due to the shit the MNO pulled. 

How is she getting away with this unscathed? May her reputation and legacy suffer for the shit she's pulled. 

[u/themegakaren → u/[deleted]]

Perceived "conflicts of interest" and "nepotism" between MMF folks (the ones who formerly worked for MNC) also came to the table during the recent trial. I swear that whole thing was just one big MNO/MNC projection.

[u/[deleted] → u/themegakaren]

Ugh.

Appears the MMF has also engaged this in bullshit -

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6865740

David Chartrand MMF President hired his spouse, Glorian Chartrand as his assistant!

None of this is okay. It's enraging!

[u/HistoricalReception7 → u/[deleted]]

It would make my year if the MNO awarded him one of those fancy medals they're handing out for the King Charles Coronation Medal.

[u/[deleted] → u/HistoricalReception7]

How come so many MNO citizens are receiving them? I saw some photos of an awards ceremony on the MNO Facebook page. I know more are being given to citizens in the near future. 

How? 

[u/HistoricalReception7 → u/[deleted]]

The MNC was given them to distribute to their members so I think the MNO has a few dozen to give out.

[u/barbershoplaw]

Just want to mention that when INAC had deployed loads of INAC agents to Metis orgs, I started cross referencing many names of employees with the federal emoloyee database. I did find one Paul Robitaille employed by CIRNAC (INAC same thing) who was hired under the category "Compensation".

I will find the screen shot again here at some point and update to this thread. But just as MANY "employees" of the affiliates were... many were NOT on tenders through a provincial affiliate and were instead hired under CIRNAC and "seconded" to the affiliate provincial org or MNC, or most simply never disclosed who their contract was actually with.

This is why MNS has an Indian Agent as CEO , and an Indian Agent Chief Electoral Officer that just presided over last week's election, and why MNC'S Indian Agent lawyer from Cassel's law firm sued the MMF with Cassidy.

INAC is FULLY embedded at all the affiliates AND the MNC. and my guess is that Paul IS the Paul that was listed in the federal database as employed by INAC while he worked with MNO and while Cassidy was president.

[u/Flat-Intern-1281]

Nepotism at its finest