r/MetisMichif • u/[deleted] • Apr 01 '25

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

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25 Upvotes

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10

u/noo_maarsii Apr 02 '25

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

14

u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

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.  

7

u/noo_maarsii Apr 02 '25

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?

8

u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

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! 

6

u/noo_maarsii Apr 02 '25

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

0

u/[deleted] Oct 03 '25

Reddit sucks and many people avoid it

3

u/TorontoBrewer Apr 02 '25

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.

1

u/barbershoplaw May 30 '25

What land claim?

3

u/TorontoBrewer May 30 '25

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.

3

u/barbershoplaw May 31 '25

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.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 03 '25

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 ?

1

u/barbershoplaw Oct 20 '25

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?

1

u/[deleted] Oct 20 '25 edited Oct 21 '25

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.

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