Métis name top doctor, minister in complaint

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This article was published 11/09/2020 (2019 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — The Manitoba Metis Federation is launching a human rights complaint against the province’s top doctor and the Pallister government, claiming both have discriminated against Métis people in their response to COVID-19.

“The fact is that they have, and continue to, ignore the Métis,” reads a letter obtained by the Free Press, which initiates a formal complaint against Manitoba Health Minister Cameron Friesen and chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin.

In a letter dated today, the MMF asks the Manitoba Human Rights Commission to investigate its complaint of discrimination.

The letter is the first step in the complaints process. The tribunal will assess whether the alleged discrimination falls under its jurisdiction.

Chartrand accused the government of ignoring Métis people out of spite, given the MMF has clashed with Premier Brian Pallister on issues such as the construction of flood-prevention outlets and a cancelled Manitoba Hydro compensation deal.

The government has insisted it wants to protect all Manitobans.

The letter claims the pair ignored multiple requests from the MMF to enter a data-sharing agreement, similar to deals Manitoba has signed with First Nations and Inuit organizations.

The Pallister government says it’s open to such an arrangement — but the MMF claims it only heard from officials this week.

The MMF also laments Roussin consulting with First Nations in implementing northern travel bans, but not with communities that have Métis populations.

“If somebody dies in our community, we’re going to hold you accountable because of your failure to help us know where it is, so we can jump in to help out,” MMF president David Chartrand said Thursday.

“Why would he choose one Indigenous people to not work with?”

This week, the MMF sent a tiny home to a Métis nurse who worked at a Flin Flon care home where a colleague tested positive for COVID-19. The nurse feared transmitting the novel coronavirus to an immunocompromised relative at home, and needed a place to self-isolate.

Chartrand said the MMF was lucky to have heard of the situation through the grapevine. He argued an information-sharing protocol might have flagged a possible exposure in an area with many Métis people.

“We have all these tools we can’t even use, unless we find out about (situations) on our own,” he said.

On April 3, Manitoba public health nurses started asking those testing positive for COVID-19 if they identify as First Nations, Métis or Inuit.

Later that month, the province signed an information-sharing agreement with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, which governs how the province and AMC publish information on how many First Nations have caught the virus and where they live.

Officials signed a similar agreement with the Manitoba Inuit Association at some point this year; there are fewer than 1,000 Inuit in Manitoba, according to census data.

The Métis are a distinct group who founded the province of Manitoba, and inhabit communities across the province, especially towns in the North.

Provincial officials have never explained when asked why they’ve never inked a similar agreement with the Métis.

The MMF says it first asked to collaborate on data sharing in April. A June follow-up letter from the organization’s lawyer warns allowing people to self-identify as Métis could lead to inaccurate data.

An August letter from the lawyer accuses Manitoba of violating its own Path to Reconciliation Act commitments by not collaborating with the Métis.

On Thursday, moments after the Free Press asked about these letters, Friesen’s office sent a response to the MMF’s lawyer, saying the minister had already responded in June about a possible data-sharing agreement and remains open to it.

The June 18 letter claims, “The MMF was contacted to participate in this work through a number of avenues, but declined to be involved at that point.”

Chartrand said the MMF has no record of receiving that June letter or any other communication from Friesen’s office. It is unclear why Friesen’s office had not responded to the MMF’s Aug. 7 letter, in which the organization says it had never received a response.

In a letter dated Friday, the MMF is asking the Manitoba Human Rights Commission to launch a formal complaint on the basis of discrimination against Métis people.

The letter is the first step in the complaints process. The tribunal then assesses whether the alleged discrimination falls under its jurisdiction.

Chartrand accused the government of ignoring Métis people out of spite, given the MMF has clashed with Premier Brian Pallister on issues such as the construction of flood-prevention outlets and a cancelled Manitoba Hydro compensation deal.

The government has insisted it wants to protect all Manitobans.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca

MMF COVID-19 human-rights complaint letter and Friesen response