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Fort Smith Mtis walk out of NWT Mtis Nation AGM POLITICS MTIS 16 Wednesday December 2 2015 KAESERS HOLIDAY SCHEDULE SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY DECEMBER 2015 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 18 19 9 A.M. - 10 P.M. 212 22 23 24 25 MOONLIGHT MADNESS 9 A.M. - 8 P.M.9 A.M. - 8 P.M. 28 29 30 2 Enter your name in the dry goods store. SCHEDULE Kaesers Stores Ltd. 76 Breynat St. Fort Smith NT 867 872-2345 BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY AND SAFE HOLIDAY from the management and staff of Kaesers. CLOSED CLOSED 9 A.M. - 7 P.M. 9 A.M. - 6 P.M. NOON - 5 P.M. NOON - 5 P.M. 9 A.M. - 7 P.M. RAFFLE 8 Fresh turkeys arrive CLOSED 31 29 9 A.M. - 5 P.M. 9 A.M. - 4 P.M. RAFFLE 3 RAFFLE 4 RAFFLE 5 RAFFLE 6 RAFFLE 7 BACK TO REGULAR HOURS 30 6 13 20 27 9 A.M. - 7 P.M. 9 A.M. - 8 P.M. MOONLIGHT MADNESS MOONLIGHT MADNESS 9 A.M. - 10 P.M. RAFFLE 2 9 A.M. - 10 P.M. RAFFLE 1 26 1 By DALI CARMICHAEL A frustrated Ken Hudson walked out of the Northwest Territories Mtis NWTMN Na- tion annual general meeting on Nov. 21 where members were working towards nalizing a land claim with the federal government. The president of the Fort Smith Mtis Councils early exit came after a resolution excluding Mtis members from outside of the territory in the NWTMNs nal agreement was narrowly passed 19-18. That was passed to eliminate Fitzgerald as a Mtis community Hudson said. Following the outburst Hudson conrmed with an enumeration ofce that those who had ties to the NWT before 1921 were pro- tected however he was still unhappy with the symbolism of the resolution. Its just the principle of it he said. It goes to show you that theres always an at- tempt to lessen our people we represent. It all has to do with getting a bigger share of whatever it is resources or money that we have in the future. Thereareabout1400Metismembersliving in Fort Smith. Hay River and Fort Resolution have Mtis populations of about 400 each. Res and Hay River want to gang up on the largest community and try to eliminate as many members of our association as they can Hudson said. It has to do with even the future choice of our fair share of the land or money even devolution money thats avail- able to us right now. Other resolutions were considered but with- drawn including a move to divide governance in such a way that each group had a third of the power. We have 1400 members in Fort Smith and there are 400 in HR and exactly the same amount in Fort Res he continued. A democratic government would not be one third each as far as governance. It was withdrawn all right but it just goes to show you Hay River and Res are not going to treat us fairly in the future. These reso- lutions are still hanging over our heads for some other date. Members react GarryBaileypresidentoftheNWTMtisNa- tionsaidhewasnotimpressedwiththewalkout. I didnt think it was a good enough issue to walk away he said. It was heartbreaking to watch it to see an empty table after working togetherformyselfsince1998.Toseeitalmost fall apart was very sad. The resolution was to put forward that the Mtis nation represents indigenous Mtis North of 60 and thats all. Arthur Beck President of the Fort Resolu- tion Mtis agreed with Bailey. TheMtisarenegotiatinglandnorthofthe 60thParallelandnothingsouthofitwerenot negotiating for Alberta he said. Its a really hard thing for us to do but we have to do it for the future generations. We like all the people theretheyrefriendsbutyouvegottoputthat aside for business. Its a touchy one. All three parties called for a door-to-door enumeration to be completed in order to ratify the ofcial number of people in the NWTMN and how those numbers would be divided under a nal agreement to allow for accurate per capita payout and land divisions. Devolution money that was sent to us those numbers were wrong too Beck said. We did it once and that is the only time were going to do it because we have to get the proper numbers in. Whoever sent our numbers in for us it wasnt accurate. Negotiations will likely pick up again from Dec. 8 to 12 in Edmonton the next meeting set for the members. Bailey hopes the numbers would be ofcial in the near future. Im sure hoping I can get it done this year its the backbone of what were doing he said. Were still united as far as I know. Well get through it we have tough things to do yet. Hudson agreed though said he was ready to stick to his guns on the more controversial resolutions. Were surely not going to let it go were going to continue with negotiations because were actively claiming self government active of claim Hudson said. How are we going to continue and get our fair share The NWT Mtis Nation approves of an agreement in principle in 2012. Now heads are butting as the Hay River Fort Smith and Fort Resolution members work towards a nal agreement with the federal government. Filephoto