As the constitutional process falteredto a close following the failure of the Charlottetown referendum, the RoyalCommission on Aboriginal Peoples launched its hearing process.  Atbest the RCAP bureaucracy treated Métis issues at a very low levelof priority, and the MNC was quick to ingratiate itself with RCAP and haveits own supporters hired on the RCAP Métis Policy Team.  Asa result Métis outside the MNC fold were virtually excluded fromthe initial Métis Roundtable ?and associated funding -- held togather information on Métis issues.

It was not until the NCC reorganizedits Métis constituency under the umbrella of a working group identifiedas the Confederacy of Métis Peoples (see this link).  In thefinal months of the RCAP hearing process this NCC Confederacy group successfullylobbied for a separate RCAP hearing on behalf of the other Métisoutside the MNC’s jurisdiction.  As a johnny-come-lately I was (withsome bureaucratic reluctance within both the RCAP Métis Policy Team)contracted by RCAP to help develop this hearing and to serve as a participanton the Métis Policy Team in the final weeks of its deliberations.

The Métis section of the RCAPFinal Report (which was withheld from me until after the report was published)was a disappointment to all except the MNC and the Labrador MétisNation (LMN).  Written by a western consultant who had no real awarenessof Métis beyond Manitoba’s eastern borders, the input of most easternor "other" Métis were frequently referred to in a disparaging way. 

 Only two Métis groups werespecifically identified in the report as "Nations" within the meaning ofRCAP’s Nation-to-Nation policy in the context of future Aboriginal negotiationswith Canadian governments. Métis in all other regions were brandedas underdeveloped and somehow did not yet warrant serious consideration. This is hardly surprising since the MNC had numerically dominated the Métispolicy team by eight (?) to one, and only a western Métis had beenappointed to the Commission.  The LMN earned its recognition as aresult of the Inuit Commissioner Mary Sillet (?) who insisted that LabradorMétis receive their due recognition.  Unfortunately there wasno Commissioner willing to express specific support for other eastern Métis.

Winningthe War and Losing the Peace

Taken as a whole, the last half of thetwentieth century was very good to Métis peoples.  Métisgroups were successfully organized.  Constitutional recognition ofMétis was an achievement beyond the wildest dreams of the earlierMétis organizers and even the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoplesgranted grudging consideration to Métis ? albeit mostly western-- issues.  In could legitimately be said that Métis peoplein Canada had won the war of recognition as the 20th century closed. Unfortunately we have been losing the peace ever since.

The first major shift was in federalgovernment policy toward funding Aboriginal groups in general.  Nowthat the government no longer needed Aboriginal representation for constitutionalor political purposes, questions were being asked at the cabinet levelas to why the government was still funding "the opposition." Under successiveconservative government regimes core funding was slashed back to 1970slevels.  Communications funding (magazines, newspapers etc.) was eliminated.Program funding of Aboriginal-specific initiatives for other than registeredIndians was sharply curtailed. Program funding was re-designed to parallelgovernment initiatives like employment training and small business partnerships.It would seem the clock had struck midnight and the Aboriginal diplomaticcore were being changed back into program delivery agents.

At the same time, Métis-specificorganizations were shrinking in on themselves, partly to lick their woundsfrom the constitutional wars, and partly to consider how best to consolidatetheir constitutional gains in the face of government policies designedto minimize those same gains.  The NCC was embroiled in internal changes,including how to represent off-reserve Bill C-31 registrants in the organization. They also made major changes to their constitution and changed their nameto the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples.  The MNC cut off any organizationsthat still harboured non-status Indian people (including their foundingPresident, Jim Sinclair) or who refused to adopt their restrictive definitionof Métis. They parachuted hand-picked leadership into British Columbiaand Ontario in an attempt to create a funnel into which all federal fundingfor Métis in Canada would flow.