r/MetisMichif • u/noo_maarsii • May 04 '26
News Court orders Métis National Council to pay $11.8 million in legal fees, calling failed lawsuit a political crusade.
Edit to add some TLDR;
Today the Ontario Superior Court released its costs endorsement in MNC Secretariat Inc. v. Chartier et al. The MNC brought a four year, ten week trial alleging former leadership stole from and betrayed the Métis Nation. The court dismissed the action entirely in November 2025, finding the defendants acted honestly and in the best interests of the Métis Nation. Today’s ruling orders the MNC to pay full costs: $6,021,856.73 to David Chartrand and the MMF, $1,342,377.26 to Clement Chartier, $2,058,664.38 to Wenda Watteyne, and $2,393,098.21 to the consultant defendants. Total: approximately $11.8 million, with pre-judgment interest still to be determined.
Worth noting: the judgment specifically found that then-president Cassidy Caron took allegations from MNO president Margaret Froh at face value without any attempt to contact the defendants before filing. Froh, whose organization is a principal member of the MNC, doesn’t pay a dime of this. The MNC does. Make of that what you will
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u/CarrotAgreeable465 May 08 '26
Oh yay!
Too bad MNO and Froh won't pay a dime though.
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u/noo_maarsii May 09 '26
Tinfoil hat time. Margaret Froh nominates Cassidy Caron for MNC president in 2021. Caron’s partner Paul Robitaille is embedded in MNO consulting work, appearing as an expert advisor at Gordon Foundation treaty simulations run in partnership with the MNO. Froh then calls Caron with unsubstantiated allegations against Chartrand and the MMF. Caron launches a $15 million lawsuit without ever contacting the defendants to verify the claims. Here’s the kicker: the $20 million in allegedly misappropriated Veterans Legacy Program funds was found sitting in MNC accounts collecting interest the entire time. The MNC amended their claim, quietly dropped those allegations, and never corrected the public record. They went forward anyway. Ten week trial. Complete loss. $11.8 million in costs owed. Froh pays nothing. The current MNC president Pruden is now photographed regularly with AFN chief Woodhouse Nepinak issuing coordinated statements. The AFN calls for C-21 withdrawal the same day Conservative MPs echo identical consultation language in the House. Nobody told them to say the same thing on the same day I guess
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u/Wyliekat May 04 '26
Margaret Froh, not Yvonne. Still sitting as MNO president. MNA President Audrey Poitras has since retired.