It appears the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan is headed back to court.
Last month, a judge ordered the MNS to hold a provincial council meeting by Jan. 23.
That meeting happened this past weekend and the provincial council voted in favour of holding a legislative assembly in mid-September.
However, President Robert Doucette says that is not soon enough and he held a press conference Tuesday morning to address the issue.
He says without federal funding, the MNS’ Saskatoon office won’t be able to keep its doors open much longer and he will be filing a court application to hold the assembly as soon as possible.
“They’re won’t be any organization left in eight months just in terms of the office,” he says. “There will always be a Métis nation but the organization as it exists within the parameters of this building and the relationships that we have with all of the governments and non-government agencies and the varying groups that we’ve worked so hard for over the last seven years will be gone. And that’s very sad.”
Federal funding to the organization has been cut since November for failure to hold a legislative assembly over the last two years.
Doucette says since funding has been cut, the MNS office has struggled to provide basic services such as processing citizenship applications.
He says the organization simply doesn’t have the money to employ the necessary staff to process the applications in a timely manner.
“More and more the education institutions such as SIAST, the U of S and the U of R are asking that if they (Métis students) declare they are Métis, they actually prove it through a card or a letter from this office. And if you don’t have the staff here, and we don’t because we haven’t received a dime in registry money this year, that impacts our ability and ability of our people to access opportunities.”
At the Saskatoon meeting, council voted in favour of having provincial council meetings in March, May and July before holding a legislative assembly in Yorkton Sept. 11-13.
Another provincial council meeting will also be held in conjunction with the assembly.
Doucette says a faction on council, led by Vice-President Gerald Morin, is delaying the legislative assembly because they are afraid of losing power to rank and file local presidents in the decision making process.
“The only time that Métis get an opportunity to tell their regional directors and the executive what to do is at an MNLA.”
In an emailed statement, Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt’s office says funding will continue to be cut to the MNS for failure to hold an assembly and “We continue to hope that the members will come together to effectively and efficiently give the Métis People of Saskatchewan the governance that they deserve – one which is transparent, accountable and democratic.”