Métis leader’s off-colour remark irks group

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/03/2022 (1478 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A joke about his genitalia, made by the leader of the Manitoba Metis Federation, has sparked concerns about a “disturbing culture” in the organization.

“This morning I took a shower with cold water — cold, ice-cold water,” president David Chartrand’s told the annual assembly of 2,000 delegates Saturday, as part of his address on the state of the Métis nation.

“And not to be sexual in any way, (but) do you know what happens to a man that takes a cold water shower in the morning? Anyways, I tell you I was freezing and yelling there,” he said.

Chartrand made the comment in relation to a power outage at the hotel where many of the delegates had stayed, which meant they had no hot water.

His comments were greeted with bouts of laughter, but not everyone found it funny.

“Everyone kind of chuckled, and myself and a lot of my friends felt uncomfortable hearing that,” said Jenna Vandal, co-chair of a Winnipeg chapter of the MMF.

“Obviously, there’s a sexual innuendo that I don’t want to have to picture in any way,” she said. “That was harmful to some women.”

Red River Echoes banded together a year ago to lobby the federation to change its leadership structure. The group argues that a corporate-style board and outdated attitudes have deterred Métis youth from being politically active.

The collective, which has only 38 members, has been a thorn in the side of Chartrand. He has accused them of being disrespectful; last year, he told them to “go to hell.”

In an interview Monday, Chartrand defended his shower joke, noting that a video recording of his speech shows delegates laughing. He said it’s Métis custom to make fun of oneself.

“I did a joke about myself to make everybody laugh and feel like it’s OK; all of us went through it, the president too,” he said, referring to the lack of hot water at the hotel.

Ahead of the weekend assembly, the collective posted a video raising concerns about new resolutions as well asexisting rules that require members to serve as long as eight years in various roles before running for leader.

At the conference Saturday, Chartrand, who has led the Métis since 1997, portrayed the collective as a small group of keyboard warriors.

“Ninety per cent of it is liars. You know why? Because they’re brave and nobody can see me here,” he told the assembly.

“Like, come here in this room and criticize; we’ll see how fast you’re taken care of by people in this room.”

The collective said that amounted to a veiled threat of violence, which Chartrand dismissed as unfair and inflammatory.

Moments later, Red River Echoes member Breanne Lavallee-Heckert rose to defend her group, at one point suggesting a meeting to go over governance concerns.

“I grew up watching Métis women be disregarded my whole life, and I’m tired of seeing that,” she said from the floor microphone.

“If this isn’t a space where Métis women can have different opinions, then this isn’t a space for us.”

Executives pushed back by arguing women are in numerous leadership roles in the federation.

Some delegates followed Lavallee-Heckert after she left the meeting and swore at her, she said.

“They told us to take our politics out of there and that we were disrespectful young people (who are) dumb and don’t know what we’re talking about,” she said.

“It started to almost get to the point of physical violence.”

The federation had arranged for security at the meeting, and any intimidation is wrong, Chartrand said Monday.

“If you want to criticize (our) structure, then come here and tell them that, but be prepared; democracy will also respond,” Chartrand said.

“The problem is they didn’t like the answer.”

The collective argues it’s been ignored when it raises issues such as a partnership with Winnipeg police.

Claire Johnston said Chartrand dismissed her as being uninformed and overly emotional when she raised an issue at a recent Métis youth meeting.

“I try to be engaged in these processes (but) I have to recover for days afterwards, because of the ways I am treated,” she said.

In response, the federation insists it wants to hear from young people, but Johnston said Chartrand’s shower comment and pushback on criticism suggest otherwise.

“It’s really a disturbing culture that we witnessed at the (assembly).”

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca