48 METIS NA TION Of ONT ARIO Annu A l Repo R t 20122013 m et is n at ional Council b oar d of Gover nors meet ing in f ebruary 2013 in o t tawa m e TI s n a TI onal Coun CI l T hr oughout histor y the Metis people have acted collectively to pr otect and fght for their rights land and ongoing existence as an Aboriginal people within west central North America Beginning in the 1960s the Metis Nation joined with First Nation and Inuit in panAboriginal political or ganizations to push for war d their shar ed agendas In 1982 as a r esult of these united ef forts Canada s Aboriginal peoples achieved monumental success with the pr otection of their existing Aboriginal and T r eaty rights in s 35 of The Constitution Act 1982 In particular the explicit r ecognition of the Metis as one of Canada s thr ee distinct Aboriginal peoples was a watershed for the Metis Nation Following this success it became appar ent that the Metis Nation needed to be able to r epr esent Metisspe cifc inter ests at a national level As a r esult in Mar ch 1983 the Metis Nation separated fr om the Native Council of Canada to form the Metis National Council MNC Since then the MNC has r epr esented the Metis Nation nationally and inter nationally It r eceives its mandate and dir ection fr om the democratically elected leadership of the Metis Nation s gover nments fr om Ontario westwar d The Metis Nation of Ontario MNO is a gover ning member of the MNC along with the Manitoba Metis Federation the Metis Nation Saskatchewan the Metis Nation of Alberta and the Metis Nation British Columbia The MNO Pr esident sits on the sixmember MNC Boar d of Gover nors with the pr esident of each of the gover n ing members and the MNC Pr esident The MNC pr esident is elected by the MNC s general assembly In addition the MNO in collaboration with other gover ning members participates within the Metis Nation Cabinet the MNC s general assembly and the MNC s secr etariats as well as national working gr oups and committees The MNC s main goal as the r epr esentative body of the Metis within Canada is to move for war d on imple menting the Metis Nation s inher ent right to selfgover nment at a community r egional and national level Aff ILIA t I on S