MNA President Audrey Poitras
At a recent celebration held in Edmonton with over 500 Métis citizens, elected leadership, dignitaries from across the Métis Nation Homeland and her large extended Métis family in attendance, Métis Nation of Alberta President Audrey Poitras announced that she would not be running in the next MNA provincial election.
For a generation of Métis Nation citizens and Albertans, they have only known the steady, dignified, and respected leadership of President Poitras at the helm of the MNA—the government of the Métis Nation within Alberta. The MNA, which is celebrating its 95th anniversary this year, is the oldest continuous Métis government across the Métis Nation Homeland. For over a quarter of a century, President Poitras, known simply as “Audrey” to many, has been synonymous with the strength, resilience, and tenacity of Alberta Métis.
In 1996, President Poitras broke the first of many glass ceilings in her political career: becoming the first Métis woman to be elected as President of any provincial Métis government. President Poitras’ first task in her new position was to stabilize the MNA’s finances and separate politics from the MNA’s fiscal management and administration. As the MNA’s previous Finance Director, Audrey knew first-hand just how important transparent, credible, and accountable governance is to improving the quality of life of Métis citizens and Métis communities across Alberta.
After stabilizing the MNA financial and administrative operations, President Poitras turned her attention to building a strong and united Métis Nation—focused on its citizens, communities, and Métis rights. As a Métis nationalist, Audrey firmly believes that Alberta Métis will succeed and achieve Louis Riel’s vision by coming together as the Métis Nation within Alberta, not by falling into the ‘divide and conquer’ traps past colonial governments have used against the Métis or replicating an Indian Act Band form of self-government for Alberta Métis.
In particular building a strong, democratic, and accountable self-government for Alberta Métis at the local, regional, and provincial levels, and having the MNA recognized as a Métis government by other governments has been an unwavering goal for President Poitras. A focus on the needs of Métis citizens and Métis communities as well as Métis self-government has been central to President Poitras’ multiple successful re-election platforms.
In her meetings with many Prime Ministers, Alberta Premiers and Ministers over the years, President Poitras has always emphasized that if “we finally get our relationship right, the rest will fall into place.” The recognition of the inherent Métis right to self-government, and the recognition of MNA as the government of the Métis Nation within Alberta has been key to this long sought after nation-to-nation, government-to-government relationship.
In 2003, President Poitras was asked to step into the role of Interim President of the Métis National Council. During her time in that position, as she had done in Alberta, she brought stability to the Métis Nation’s national advocacy body, including representing the Métis Nation in the processes leading to the Kelowna Accord. Famously, she announced to the Métis Nation, Canadians, and the world on September 19, 2003: “We won! We won!” after the Supreme Court of Canada released its unanimous judgement in R. v. Powley, which confirmed the constitutionally protected rights of the Métis people.
In 2004, President Poitras, Premier Ralph Klein, and Minister Pearl Calahassen signed the first province-wide Métis harvesting agreement to implement the landmark Powley case in Alberta. After that landmark agreement was later unilaterally cancelled by the Stelmach Government in 2007, the MNA turned to the courts to defend Métis harvesting rights all the way to the Alberta Court of Appeal. While the MNA was not entirely successful in the court, it continued to press for recognition of Métis harvesting rights and the use of MNA citizenship for the identification of Métis harvesters. In March 2019, the MNA was able to negotiate a new Métis harvesting agreement that recognizes the MNA’s role as the representative of the citizens of the MNA, and shifted identification of harvesters from the Province of Alberta to the MNA.
The Métis Nation of Alberta’s election is scheduled to be held in the third week of September 2023.
Metis Nation of Alberta
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