Comments on: Métis running out of options in land claims case

By: Rachel

Rachel — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:33:30 +0000

I would have thought that a case could be made for the land claim. Are the land scripts promised to the Metis people so much different than that of First Nations. First Nations people are winning their land claim battles with financial compensation. Is there a lesson to be learned from the First Nations. How did they win their cases?

By: BigMetis

BigMetis — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:20:45 +0000

This whole nonsense that the Metis and FN are the “original owners” of the land is preposterous. Nobody can truly own land if one goes back far enough. Canadians have put up with this nonsense far too long. The nature of things is that superiour cultures dominate the weaker ones - has happened thru out history. Why we should right wrongs over a century ago is simply ludicrous. Back then, people acted to the morals of the day. Slavery was ongoing. Did the world repay the slaves for lost wages? No. They chalked it up to the cruel world it is and got on with things. If you are on the wrong end of that stick, you have a right to be pissed. But everyone, every society has had “unfair” things happen and yet people and societies manage to prosper. Those that sit on their arses waiting for a handout deserve contempt.

By: Earlene Bitterman

Earlene Bitterman — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 02:41:27 +0000

Many (if not the majority) of the descendants of the people that received "Manitoba Script" no longer live in Manitoba. After Manitoba was made a part of canada, those people scattered to the winds. Many families moved after they were evicted from the land they had lived on for many years. They were literally forced off of their ancestral land, and were denied a place in Manitoba.

Others lived in the province for many years after 1870, only moving later for economic or other reasons. They still have as much of a claim to any land as any other descendant of those who lived in the Red River Valley, but the MMF does not even attempt to claim that they represent those people. Instead, the MMF would deny those people any right to a land claim, instead attempting to only allow their members to have any claim to a settlement based on those old land claims.

Unless the MMF agrees to represent ALL Metis people, wherever they may reside, they should not be allowed to bring this case before the courts. They do not represent the Metis people, they merely represent a tiny minority of the Metis people that happen to reside in Mantoba.