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THE MÉTIS NATION OF ONTARIO

Established in 1993 by the will of Ontario Métis, the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) represents the collective aspirations, rights and interests of Métis people and communities throughout Ontario. The MNO recognizes 9 distinct regions in Ontario and has a democratic, province-wide governance structure which ensures Métis people are represented at the local, regional and provincial levels.

Today, the MNO represents more than 22,000 registered citizens throughout Ontario through provincial, regional and local governance structures and delivers a wide range of programs and services to its citizens and communities through a network of 33 offices in Ontario that administer budgets of well over $50 million annually. In 2015, the Ontario legislature passed the MNO Act, which recognizes the MNO's unique governance structure. The MNO has also created a series of institutions, including, the Métis Voyager Development Fund, Infinity Investments LP and the MNO Cultural Commission. Ontario is also home to the 2003 Powley case that was advanced by the MNO, in which the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed the harvesting rights of the Sault Ste. Marie Métis community, as a part of the Great Lakes Métis. Since 2003, the MNO has negotiated agreements with both Canada and Ontario that recognize Métis harvesting rights, the Crown's duty to consult the MNO and the MNO's inherent right of self-government. The MNO has been one of the governing members of the Metis National Council since 1994.

WHO THE MÉTIS ARE

The paternal ancestors of the Métis were the former employees of the Hudson Bay and Northwest Fur Companies, and their maternal ancestors were Indian women of the various tribes. The French word “Métis” is derived from the Latin participle mixtus, which means “mixed;” in French “mele;” it expresses well the idea that is sought to be conveyed.

However appropriate the corresponding English expression “Halfbreed” might have been for the first generation of the mixture of blood, now that European blood and Indian blood are mixed in every degree, it is no longer general enough. The French word “Métis” expresses the idea of this mixture in the most satisfactory manner possible, and thus becomes a proper race name. Why should we care to what degree exactly of mixture we possess European blood and Indian blood? If we feel ever so little gratitude and filial love toward one or the other, do they not constrain us to say: “we are Métis!”
– Louis Riel, 1885

The Métis are a distinct Aboriginal people with a unique history, culture, language and territory that includes the waterways of Ontario, surrounds the Great Lakes and spans what was known as the historic Northwest.

The Métis Nation is comprised of descendants of people born of relations between Indian women and European men. The initial offspring of these unions were of mixed ancestry. The genesis of a new Aboriginal people called the Métis resulted from the subsequent intermarriage of these mixed ancestry individuals.

Distinct Métis settlements emerged as an outgrowth of the fur trade, along freighting waterways and watersheds. In Ontario, these settlements were part of larger regional communities, interconnected by the highly mobile lifestyle of the Métis, the fur trade network, seasonal rounds, extensive kinship connections and a shared collective history and identity.