OTTAWA — Members of the Ontario Métis Nation say an upcoming academic summit in the province amounts to an attack on their history by calling into question the legitimacy of their connection to Métis heritage and territorial claims.
But organizers of the indigenous summit say they are using the event to defend their territories against what they call violations of their rights.
The event is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in Sault Ste. Marie is hosted by the Robinson Huron Waaviindamaagwin, an organization created by the 21 First Nations signatories to the Robinson Huron Treaty.
The sold-out event, the Ontario Métis Claims (Un)Claims Forum, will hear from scholars who have examined the claims made by the Ontario Métis Nation and who question the country's six new communities that were recognized by the province in 2017.
Sam Manitowabee, senior policy analyst at Robinson Huron Waawiindamaagewin, told The Canadian Press the summit could help ensure the Indigenous side is heard.
Indigenous peoples in the region argue that communities represented by the Métis Nation of Ontario are illegitimate and invading their territories.
“The elders in our communities have their own oral history—they are historians,” Manitowabee said.
“And if there were Métis communities in our territory, there would be stories about them. There would be written and oral histories of these communities. But there aren't.”
The summit is the latest episode in a battle that culminated in 2023, when the federal government tried to pass legislation that would recognize the right to self-government of Ontario's Métis people.
This legislation ultimately failed to become law due to fierce opposition from First Nations and other provincial Métis groups, who withdrew their support for the bill.
Now First Nations say they fear federal and provincial governments will end up consulting with the Métis Nation of Ontario on major projects, which they say is unjustified and could undermine their own efforts.
The Ontario Métis Nation, which represents Métis people in the province, was founded in 1993 to give a political voice to people often described as “forgotten” compared to First Nations and Inuit organizations that have signed treaties with the Crown that allow for clear relationships and recognition of rights.
This was instrumental in obtaining the first Supreme Court of Canada decision affirming Métis rights. This landmark case, the Pauley Case, laid the foundation for identifying a Métis person or community—the Pauley Test—and recognized the Métis community in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
Although First Nations leaders supported the Ontario Métis Nation throughout this decade-long battle, the relationship soured after the province recognized six new communities of the Ontario Métis Nation in 2017.
These new communities extend close to the Quebec border and have changed the face of what was considered the Métis homeland, along with norms set by other provincial Métis groups that have severed ties to the Métis group and are now questioning the decisions that led to the recognition of these communities.
The Métis Nation of Ontario has consistently defended itself against its critics and has rejected studies conducted by First Nations scholars dismissing the existence of these Métis communities as politically motivated.
“Holding this conference in my hometown is a personal attack on my family, on my Métis community and on our citizens,” said Kim Pauley, daughter of Steve Pauley, who took the hunting rights case to the Supreme Court and won.
“Our existence is not a matter of political opinion or debate.”
Anishinabek Regional Chief Scott McLeod disagrees.
“The truth has to come out,” said McLeod, a former chief of the Nipissing First Nation, a signatory to the Robinson Huron Treaty.
“The only reason MNO exists is the provincial and federal recognition they have received, and that recognition was given without any due diligence in determining the factual verification of what they presented as history.”
Indigenous peoples point to a growing body of research they have commissioned that questions the existence of historical Métis communities in their territories.
In July, history professor Leila Inksetter of the University of Quebec at Montreal published a report prepared on behalf of the Wabun Tribal Council that concluded there was no evidence of a mixed-ancestry community on Wabun Tribal Council territory in northeastern Ontario.
Another report, published this year and commissioned by the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, concluded that there is no evidence of a distinct Métis community on their territory in southwestern Ontario.
“There were no Métis people in our area, but there were many so-called ‘half-breeds’ or ‘half-breeds,’ and some of them were separated from our community through legislation, the Indian Act,” McLeod said.
“And when that happened then, in many cases they became outcasts from society, but years later they were welcomed back when the law changed and we began to fight back and take responsibility for our own citizenship.”
Mitch Case, regional councilor for the Huron-Superior Regional Métis Community and provincial rights, intergovernmental affairs and communications secretary, said the argument is an attempt to rewrite history.
“It’s disappointing and disgusting,” Case said in an interview.
“Forcing people to spend their time, their money, their energy to just relentlessly attack the history of our community, the history of our people, to go online and, quite frankly, bully and harass many of our citizens because they don't like the way that person identifies based on their family history—the history of their community—has a significant impact on the mental health of many of our citizens.”
He said Métis people in the province are willing to meet with First Nations and understand their conflict, but have been rebuffed by the same people who held the conference over the weekend.
“If they care so much about us, why don’t they want to meet us?” Case asked.
The conference will hear from nearly two dozen scholars, leaders and community members in discussions covering the history of the Métis Nation of Ontario, the history of First Nations women's enfranchisement and the Pauley decision.
Organizers hope to pass a resolution at the end of Sunday's conference reaffirming their opposition to the Ontario Métis Nation, as they did during a similar summit held last year in partnership with the Manitoba Métis Federation.
Manitowabee said citizens or leaders of the Métis Nation of Ontario are invited to attend.
“This is about protecting our identity and asserting our jurisdiction over our treaty territory,” Manitowabee said.
“We are simply doing everything we can to protect our inalienable rights.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 13, 2025.
