A look at this year’s largest celebration of Métis culture | APTN News

[00:00:00]And that'll be happening within the next within the next 2 weeks.

[00:00:03]>> That is Métis Nation Saskatchewan President Glen McCallum speaking about what he is calling the Métis Treaty.

[00:00:09]Visitors from across the country attended the festival to celebrate Métis culture and learn about the latest developments with MNS. One of the biggest topics of the weekend was the expected announcements on the next steps towards self-government with the federal government. In 2024, MNS announced it was withdrawing from Bill C-53, legislation that would have implemented self-government agreements for the Métis Nations of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario.

[00:00:39]Following that decision, MNS said it would pursue its own path to self-determination.

[00:00:44]Now, McCallum says MNS and the federal government have been negotiating a draft treaty with both sides expected to initial the document before moving into community consultations.

[00:00:56]>> When we initial and after that we engage with our people to be able to hear our people in regards to what they would like to see and what kind of fiscal relationship that we need to have with the federal government. That'll take around anywhere from 5 months to 6 months for engagements and then our assembly we will assemble with most of our people and then 75% of the vote we need for it to pass that we can sign the treaty.

[00:01:23]>> Federal Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Rebecca Alty said the federal government remains committed to advancing self-government agreements with Indigenous communities.

[00:01:33]>> It's an important to self-government for Métis, First Nations, and Inuit. And so it takes a while to to get to this stage, but we're really happy to to be making this step and then the following steps that come.

[00:01:45]>> Alty said that reaching this stage has taken time, but the negotiation process has reinforced the importance of strong relationships between the federal government and Indigenous governments.

[00:01:57]>> Saskatchewan's been leaders in the the province as well as nationally and so really look forward to continuing to work with them and I think the the self-government agreement, the importance of growing the the governance, the maturity, the our relationship relationship to relationship nation to nation.

[00:02:16]>> APTN will continue to follow developments on the draft treaty.

[00:02:20]Festival goers also had the chance to experience a new Roblox game created by Masqua Games.

[00:02:27]Players can explore a virtual version of the Back to Batoche Festival while learning heritage Michif words by interacting with vendors.

[00:02:35]The game also includes a variety of badges and other traditional experiences to unlock.

[00:02:41]It is currently available only in heritage Michif, but Masqua Games, an Indigenous company based in Vancouver in partnership with MNS, plans to release a northern Michif version also teaching the language.

[00:02:54]A new president's medal was also presented this year to two citizens receiving the inaugural lifetime achievement award, which recognizes more than 20 years of advocacy for Métis people. Joanna Parenteau and Gerald Morin received the inaugural awards for their work preserving, sharing, and promoting Métis culture.

[00:03:15]Rachel May, APTN National News, Batoche.