MN-S disappointed by federal government decision to appeal Daniels v. Canada

In a news release the Métis Nation – Saskatchewan stated it is disappointed with the decision by the Government of Canada to appeal the Harry Daniels et al v. Canada case.

"It is no surprise that the federal governmet has appealed the Daniels decision," said Robert Doucette, President of Métis Nation – Saskatchewan.

"However, we believe that the decision to appeal is a lost opportunity on the part of the federal government to begin negotiating, in good faith, the long overdue implementation of our rights. Minister Duncan made his point in Parliament that programs and services need to be fiscally sustainable, yet the really sad thing is that the federal government is going to continue to spend millions of taxpayers' dollars to litigate this at the expense of the Métis people.

"As taxpayers, Métis people want to know that their investment in Canada leads to a higher standard of living for them, just like every other Canadian has come to expect. Appealing the Daniels decision means our Métis people will continue to be living in jurisdictional limbo, leaving them under-funded, living below the poverty line, untrained and unemployed, and with the highest rate of chronic disease. All our people can look forward to is the continuing story of being Canada's forgotten people.

Read more on the Daniels decison: http://www.ammsa.com/publications/windspeaker/federal-court-rules-m%C3%A9tis-and-non-status-indians-are-indians