METIS NA TION Of ONT ARIO Annu A l Repo R t 20122013 13 cer emony at Rideau Hall in October 2012 to r eceive along with other Aboriginal gr oups who had contributed to the war the offcial W ar of 1812 commemorative medal and banner fr om Gover nor General David Johnson and Prime Minister Stephen Harper Following this cer emony the W ar of 1812 Secr etariat that had initially r ejected our funding r equest accepted our applications and the MNO will have funds to educate the public about our r ole in the W ar of 1812 during the summer of 2013 It was my honour to speak at Rideau Hall on behalf of the Metis during the pr esentation cer emony which included First Nations and Metis gr oups fr om acr oss Ontario and Canada It is ver y important that I also r ecog nize the tir eless ef forts of the Metis Nation of Ontario V eterans Council who vigor ously r eminded the gover n ment and public of the Metis r ole during the war and demanded that it be r ecognized Their leadership was crucial to tur ning the tide so that both gover nment offcials and the public ar e now much mor e awar e of what our Metis ancestors did to defend Canada befor e ther e was a Canada Metis rights The Metis contribution to the W ar of 1812 is of course only one part of the legacy that came down to us fr om our ancestors Our Aboriginal and T r eaty rights as r ecognized in The Constitution Act 1982 and as affrmed by the Supr eme Court in R v Powley r emain our most sacr ed Pr otecting these rights was the r eason that the 2012 AGA instructed the MNO leadership to perform an inter nal audit of har vest fles The AGA r esolution r equir ed that all Har vesters lacking evidence demonstrating they meet the criteria of the Powley test submit the necessar y documentation The MNO Registr y is working with impacted Har vesters to help them obtain the necessar y documentation as this is essential not only to meet the r equir ements of the Supr eme Court of Canada but to maintain our har vesting rights as Metis In early 2012 federal courts came down with two landmark decisions and both wer e victories in the struggle for Metis rights In Januar y the Federal Court of Canada ruled in Daniels v Canada that accor ding to the Canadian Constitution Metis fall under the jurisdiction of the federal gover nment This has potential wideranging benefts to Metis but the federal gover nment has appealed this case While it is disappointing the gover nment has decided to go the way of an appeal it in no way diminishes the r ecognition fr om the Federal Court Their judgement is part of what the Metis have been fghting for since Louis Riel and puts us closer to fnding our rightful place within the Canadian federation In Mar ch the Metis Nation found itself back at the Supr eme Court of Canada to hear the decision on the ar guments made befor e it in December 2011 on Manitoba Metis Federation v Canada the MMF case The MNO joined the Metis Nation of Alberta and the Metis National Council in inter vening in the MMF s historic land claim that went back to Manitoba s entr y into Confederation in 1870 and that has important implications for Metis her e in Ontario I had the privilege to be at the Supr eme Court along with Metis fr om acr oss the homeland when the decision was announced and joined in the excitement when it was clear that the decision favour ed the Metis In its decision the Supr eme Court acknowledged that ther e is unfnished business with the Metis and this includes land issues Hopefully the federal gover nment will begin to negotiate with the Metis on these and other r elated issues Both of these cases r epr esent a continuing advancement in the r ecognition of Metis rights which will be crucial to building the futur e of the whole Metis Nation p r esident l ipinski speaks at 2012 l ouis r iel d ay cer emony at Queen s p ark p r esident l ipinski addr esses s enate commit tee on a boriginal peoples in m ay 2012