EDITOR’S NOTE: MN-S PMC member and treasurer Louis Gardiner disputes the statements that unanimity was reached by the PMC on any decisions, because he has not been attending those meetings.
The Metis Nation of Saskatchewan has figured out a time, but are still working on the place for their first legislative assembly in years.
A Provincial Metis Council (PMC) meeting was held on the weekend, and was made possible with help from federal funds.
The Liberal government has provided interim funding, and a third party has been present to make sure the MN-S works through years of dysfunction.
Overall, the PMC went well, said President Robert Doucette.
“Friday was a little bit, it was a tougher meeting and I think people had to say things to each other, you know get off their chest what was on their minds but once we got through that I think Saturday was a fairly productive day,” he said.
All members of the PMC agree on the MNLA being held on July 30 and 31, Doucette said. But he and a few others don’t want it in the proposed location of Yorkton, instead saying they want it to be in Saskatoon.
His rationale is that “the majority of the Metis people live in the middle of the province, in P.A., Saskatoon and Regina, and on the west side.”
Vice-President Gerald Morin says he doesn’t understand why location has become such a big deal.
Both Morin and Doucette agree that Sept. 3 is a good proposed date for the MN-S election. However, the actual election date will be decided at the MNLA.
However, MN-S treasurer Louis Gardiner has not been attending any PMC meetings, as an act of protest. Gardiner says he does not support the direction the MN-S is going under the third party (Ernst and Young) because the aim is to move into an election.
To Gardiner, the next steps should be constitutional reform, and an election should follow after that. He says by focusing on an election first, the MN-S is just passing on the governance problems to the next group that get elected.