Image
Image Caption
By Shari Narine
Windspeaker.com Contributor
BUFFALO LAKE METIS SETTLEMENT, Alta.
It’s an election year, said Joe Blyan, president of the Buffalo Lake Metis local. He said that’s why Metis Nation of Alberta President Audrey Poitras is “pushing her weight around.”
The latest salvo in a brewing battle was thrown March 3 between Region 1, of which Buffalo Lake is one of nine locals, and the MNA head office when Region 1 called out Poitras for re-instating Daniel Cardinal as the region’s vice president.
At Region 1’s annual general meeting on Feb. 15, a resolution was passed to begin the process of removing Cardinal from his position, claiming he had, among other things, officially supported a protocol agreement that the region had opposed.
“You permitted your Regional Council to approve a resolution that you knew or ought to have known was contrary to the bylaws,” wrote Poitras in a letter to Region 1 President Diane Scoville.
Poitras admonished Scoville for her actions.
“You failed the members of Region 1 who elected you by refusing to uphold the bylaws,” wrote Poitras, adding that only the Metis Judiciary Council could consider a member’s suspension, but as the council was presently under review by an independent committee, no such decisions could be made at this point.
The Metis Judiciary Council has been the subject of a review by Deloitte since at least June 2016, according to an MNA website notice calling for community engagement on it.
As far as Blyan is concerned, Poitras is “going beyond her mandate. This is Region 1. We make the decisions.”
He believes that another reason Poitras is asserting control is because Region 1 has approached the federal government and asked to negotiate on its own.
In another resolution, the region stated it did not want the MNA to represent its local members for consultation, land claims, self-government or reconciliation of rights at any federal discussion tables.
Read our story here: http://www.windspeaker.com/news/windspeaker-news/region-1-has-lost-confidence-in-metis-nation-of-alberta/
“We’re doing what the region wanted to do and instead of negotiating, I guess she wants to fight,” Blyan said.
“Audrey’s been there for 20-odd years. Too many of us, we actually question her longevity,” he said, adding that Poitras has a top down approach, making all the decisions instead of getting direction from the membership, and that approach will no longer work now that the Daniels’ court decision of early 2016 gives Metis new direction.
“That’s why a lot of us came alive in the last couple of years. Now there’s a reason. Prior to that, it was questionable how the Metis people were going to do it. Now it’s open. We know that there’s different things on the horizon. And I believe that a lot of young people are coming alive as well,” he said.
Blyan, who is 75 and has seen many leaders, is excited about the upcoming election in August. He predicts there will be some “serious contenders” for the position of president for the MNA, including young people, who are ready to take the Metis Nation into the “new era.”
“Maybe this is the start of the real election,” he said. “We have from now until then to knock each other out.”
Repeated requests were made to the MNA by Windspeaker.com for an interview on this matter.