Metis National Council criticized

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CALGARY - A review of the Metis National Council (MNC) structure and the five presidents is desperately overdue if Metis people aren't to stay in limbo for another hundred years, said a delegates at the annual MNC assembly held in Calgary last week.

Frank Tomkins, a delegate from Saskatchewan, blasted the unfair structure and

the five presidents saying the only president who is concerned over the welfare of the Metis people is Manitoba's Yvon Dumont.

"If we are to get anywhere in Ottawa, we have to review the structure and get some order back. Right now the MNC is being dominated by one president who cares nothing for the Metis people."

Tomkins went on to accuse the Saskatchewan chapter of nepotism and "control

by people who are not Metis, but Indians."

Tomkins was joined by his protest by two other Saskatchewan delegates and Alberta's Jo-Ann Daniels, who added that she felt she had been "sold out" by the MNC.

"I appreciate Mr. Tomkin's comments because they are my concerns, too," she told delegates.

Daniels, a former vice-president of the Metis Association of Alberta, said she had been involved in the MNC but was very disappointed with the lack of progress and the domination of certain members.

"I was an elected person but I counted for nothing," she said angrily.

However, Alberta's Paul Sinclair said he didn't think the MNC needed any structuring as the given vote system for the three prairie provinces and the one vote each for British Columbia and Ontario was fair.

"We in Alberta support our leader as long as he is doing the right thing, but we hang him if he's not."

After a lot of discussion, no recommendation was put forward. Tomkins said

in an interview that the many concerns over the structure of the MNC which he claims is dominated by Saskatchewan President Jim Sinclair, who "is going to sell us down the line," at the First Ministers Conference."

Jim Sinclair had left the meeting shortly after his unsuccessful bid to persuade members to vote to come under federal jurisdiction had failed, and was not available

for comment at press time.

However, MAA president Sam Sinclair said in an interview that he thought Tomkins was "way out in left field."

"I don't think there is any foundation for those kind of personal attacks," said Sinclair. "We at the MNC chose one of the five presidents to be the spokesman and it is often Jim (Sinclair) because he is a very good speaker, that's all."

The MNC met for their annual convention in Calgary September 25 and 26. Another MNC general meeting is scheduled for early next year.