A new president for the Coalition of Aboriginal Peoples in Saskatchewan will be elected this weekend in Saskatoon.
Current President, Kim Beaudin, is stepping down after ten years so he can focus more attention on his new role as vice president of the national organization.
He says even though the Supreme Court has ruled that Metis and non-status Indians have the same constitutional rights as Status Indians, the federal government is dragging its feet on implementation and funding. As a result, he says about 800 thousand people, or 70 per cent of Canada’s Metis are being left out.
“That’s a huge number,” he said. “My theory is — it is a lot easier to look at 29 per cent of Metis people in this country as opposed to 100 per cent.”
That issue will also come up for discussion at the weekend meeting of the congress in Saskatoon. Beaudin says funding for Metis and non-status Indians dropped from 21 million to just over five million in the last federal budget.
He says while groups like the Assembly of First Nations, which represents, Status Indians, are getting the attention of Ottawa, Metis and non-status Indian groups are not getting the same treatment, even though they represent a far greater number of Indigenous people.
The annual general assembly of the Aboriginal Peoples Coalition will be held at the Saskatoon Inn. It will include government officials from INAC.
The meeting will also include grassroots speakers from La Loche and a follow up on the Daniels Supreme Court decision.