Indigenous Speaker Series welcomes Tony Belcourt

Posted on Tuesday, February 27th, 2024

“We are a people with roots as deep and as long as any other Indigenous peopleclose up headshot of Tony Belcourt in North America,” said Tony Belcourt as he addressed a small crowd of about 30 participants as part of Monday’s Indigenous Speaker Series.

Belcourt was speaking about “What Makes Métis Identity.” He provided analysis and detail from Métis history dating back to the 1700s and including photos and information later from 1846, the first records of his family’s history.

During his talk, Belcourt addressed the European settlement of Canada and how that effected the Métis residents who occupied the land. He spoke about Louis Riel, the creation of Manitoba and Alberta and how treaties were “established unfairly resulting in people losing their land to speculators.”

Belcourt spoke of the discrimination Métis people faced and how it wasn’t until 1928 with the establishment of the Métis Association of Alberta that the Métis people began to advocate for themselves. This led to the formation of the Native Council of Canada in 1970 to lobby for Métis and non-status Indians and culminated with Section 35 of the Constitution Act of 1982. That specifically recognized and affirmed the existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada. In section 35, the term “aboriginal peoples of Canada” refers to the First Nation, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada.

“I think it’s an urgent obligation of all schools to start doing their own research and develop their own curriculum to truly express all Indigenous people in Canada, not just First Nations,” said Belcourt. “Our organizations have all this documentation and would be willing to help anyone who wants to develop course materials. There’s too much misunderstanding going on out there because of a lack of information and knowledge about the Métis people. It’s important for all institutions.”

A recording of the talk will be posted shortly.

For more information, contact Shelia Grantham at granths@algonquincollege.com.


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