Métis federation gets funding boost

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This article was published 05/07/2023 (853 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the last four years, the Manitoba Métis Federation has acquired more than 150 properties in Manitoba, including the historic Bank of Montreal building at Portage and Main, which will become the Red River Métis National Heritage Centre.

The acquisitions were funded in many different ways, but the organization has done a good job accessing as much public funding as it can.

On Tuesday, it received $12.7 million from a few federal government departments to continue to beef up its economic development and agricultural supports for the Métis community.

The announcement was made in the grand hall of the 110-year-old bank building. More than $30 million of construction will begin in October to transform it into a showcase for Métis history with workshops, artifacts and photo exhibits, along with traditional and contemporary arts.

The federation has received about $20 million from the federal government and $10 million from the provincial government for the two-year project.

Tuesday’s announcement included another $1 million for new visitor exhibits, as well as digital displays and installations on the exterior facade of the building.

“I’ve seen some of the design work and it’s stunning,” said longtime president David Chartrand.

Among other things, there will be a chain coming from the high ceilings of the temple-like building, lit up in the colours of the Métis sash, symbolizing the story of Louis Riel standing on the surveyor’s chain halting the subdivision of their traditional territory in 1869.

The federation also received $7.7 million from the federal government’s Agricultural Climate Solutions — On-Farm Climate Action Fund to provide Red River Métis farmers, ranchers and producers with direct financial support to adopt sustainable farming practices.

The funding will also allow it to build up specialized ag consultancy offerings to help with planning, data collection, implementing and reporting of results as well as peer-to-peer learning opportunities between elders, traditional knowledge holders and producers.

Some of that money will go toward a greenhouse project the federation has on the books for 364 acres of land it has bought near Breezy Point, north of Selkirk, where construction is scheduled to begin soon.

Two greenhouses will be built with a plan to grow two million saplings every nine months. New tree planting is considered one of the best forms of carbon sequestration.

That project, like so much of the federation’s sprawling operation, will be run by the organization itself.

The federation has grown from bankruptcy and a small handful of employees in the late 1990s — when Chartrand took the helm — to about 1,000 employees and an annual budget of close to $90 million.

Its economic development arm, Métis Economic and Community Development, received a $4-million injection from PrairiesCan on Tuesday to help provide business advisory services, community engagement activities and sectoral expertise. It is anticipated it will help create 32 jobs, assist 100 small and medium-sized enterprises, provide advisory services to 750 businesses and create, maintain or expand close to a dozen businesses.

Dan Vandal, minister for PrairiesCan, who is proud of his own Red River Métis heritage, said the federal government has a great relationship with the federation.

“They have delivered excellent results and we’re happy to continue to work with them in Manitoba,” he said.

While Métis agricultural activity may not be all that well known, Vandal said many Métis citizens are rural people and many are farmers.

“They need some support in making the transformation to agricultural practices that are greener and sustainable and better for the environment,” he said.

During the drought of a couple of years ago, the federation provided grants of up to $80,000 to about 75 Métis ranchers and farmers who were compromised by a change in provincial regulations regarding use of Crown land for grazing.

Chartrand said the new funding will provide much-needed support to those farmers who were on the verge of shutting down a couple of years ago.

As well as the federation has done recently when it comes to government financial support, there is potentially much more on the way in the form of a settlement agreement from a Supreme Court land claim decision it won against the federal government in 2013.

In it, the federation successfully argued the federal government failed to set aside 1.4 million acres of land for the children of the Métis.

Chartrand said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised that the settlement will be concluded during this current term.

“I can tell you one thing, it is not going to be in the millions of dollars,” Chartrand said. “It’s going to be in the billions.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca