President's Corner: October 17, 2025
Posted on: Oct 17, 2025
Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to attend and speak at the Federal-Provincial-Territorial-Indigenous (FPTI) Ministers’ Meeting on Justice and Public Safety.
I spoke about what “community safety” really means for Métis people and why the solutions can’t come from incomplete data that leaves us invisible. We know that Métis are overrepresented in parts of the justice system, yet we have little to no Métis-specific data to understand why. We are trying to solve a problem without the proper information to do it. Until we have distinctions-based data, programs, and policies that reflect Métis realities, the system will continue to miss us.
I reminded Ministers from across Canada that our Métis government has been able to do a lot with very little, but to build real, lasting solutions, we need more capacity and a stronger voice at every table where justice and community safety are discussed. We need to ensure Métis victims of crime are supported, that prevention programs are culturally grounded, and that our Citizens have a fair path to healing.
This commitment to justice was also behind us as we sought intervener status in the Federal Court of Appeal hearing on the Métis Sixties Scoop claim.
Our participation ensures the voices of Métis survivors and all those taken from their families and communities are heard and represented by the government they belong to.
For generations, Métis children were taken from their homes and communities by systems that did not see them for who they were. That must never happen again. Our participation is to make sure Métis people are not forgotten.
Through every forum, whether that be in courtrooms, Council, and across this country, the Otipemisiwak Métis Government will continue to stand up for truth, safety, and the right of Métis people to shape our own future.