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David Chartrand, president of the Manitoba Métis Federation, and, in the background, Clement Chartier, head of the Métis National Council, express their joy at the Supreme Court ruling in an Ottawa press conference.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Canada's Métis people are rejoicing, but the federal government could be looking at a multibillion-dollar bill to compensate for its wrongdoing more than a century ago.

In a much anticipated ruling Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada said Canada failed to live up to the promises it made to the Métis in the Manitoba Act of 1870 – the agreement negotiated between Louis Riel and Sir John A. Macdonald that ended the Red River Rebellion and opened the West to settlement.

It is a decision that will prompt much celebration among the Métis in Manitoba and many questions of "what now?" in the political offices of Ottawa.

The ruling: Canada failed to keep promises

The Supreme Court has ruled that the Métis were wronged and that Canada didn't keep promises spelled out in the agreement that brought Manitoba into the federation – promises that were later incorporated into the Constitution.

Specifically, a majority of six justices of the top court said the Crown failed to effectively and equitably provide 1.4 million acres in land grants that were to go to Métis children to give them a "head start" in the new country.

The court determined that Canada did not owe a fiduciary duty to the Métis, as the Métis had argued in presenting their case, but said the implementation of the land grants, which was required as a result of the Manitoba Act of 1870, was rife with delays, errors and inequalities. That was not a matter of occasional negligence, said the court, "but of repeated mistakes and inaction that persisted for more than a decade."

A government intent on fulfilling its duty "could and should have done better," said the court, which also dismissed government arguments that the claimants were too late in making their case and that the matter should have been brought before the courts in the 1800s.

"What is at issue is a constitutional grievance going back almost a century and a half," the court said in the ruling. "So long as the issue remains outstanding, the goal of reconciliation and constitutional harmony recognized in Section 35 of the Charter [of Rights and Freedoms] and underlying Section 31 of the Manitoba Act remains unachieved."

The reaction: 'It's a great day,' Métis leader says

David Chartrand says he would be a millionaire if he could package his jubilation at the Supreme Court's decision in favour of the Métis people.

The president of the Manitoba Métis Federation has been fighting for 17 years to right the wrongs he says were committed more than a century ago by the government of Canada. And now the top court has agreed with him.

"It's a great day for us as Métis people," Mr. Chartrand told reporters in Ottawa on Friday after the decision was made public. "Righting the wrongs of Canadian history is the responsibility of all Canadians. Canadians from sea to sea to sea will hear our story and acknowledge the unfinished business ..."

Mr. Chartrand said he will return home this weekend with a victory – "our vindication" – that he says will be greeted by massive celebrations by hundreds of Métis.

"I so much believe in our Constitution, I so much believe in our justice system, and to see that our history was put on trial and justice prevailed, I can't tell you enough how proud I am," he said, "and what make me more proud than anything is the amount of prayers that I get from our elders everywhere telling me please make it true."

Greg Rickford, the parliamentary secretary to Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt, pointed out that the Conservatives "have a strong presence in our caucus of Métis members."

Mr. Rickford said the court decision beings some finality to a case that has been in the legal system for many years. But like other members of the government, he would not commit to further negotiations that could lead to compensation.

New Democrat MP Paul Dewar accused the government of dragging its feet in coming to terms with what it must now do. Instead of pushing back in court, Mr. Dewar said, "what has to happen is that they sit down with the Métis and hammer out some form of agreement."

A ruling 140 years in the making

The story of the Métis people is woven into the tale of Confederation and their fight with the nascent country of Canada marks the beginning of the opening of the West.

In 1869, two years after the Dominion of Canada was formed out of four eastern provinces, the government sent surveyors to the territory of Rupert's Land that had been purchased from the Hudson's Bay Company with the intent of opening it up to settlement. The immense parcel surrounded Hudson Bay and included Manitoba.

But the 12,000 people, about 10,000 of whom were Métis, who were living in the Red River Settlement located in and around Winnipeg wanted no part of the new country. Led by Louis Riel, the Métis set up their own provisional government and arrested opponents, executing one of them.

Queen Victoria demanded that the uprising be settled before she would allow the land to be transferred to Canada.

So, in 1870, Riel and former prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald hammered out the Manitoba Act, which set aside 1.4 million acres of land, located along the Red, Assiniboine and other rivers, for the 7,000 Métis children who were part of the colony. The idea was to give the Métis a head start in the new country in anticipation of an influx of immigrant settlers.

But the Métis say that, because of lengthy delays and inopportune governmental decisions, only 6,000 of the children received disparate plots scattered about the province far from parents and siblings while the other 1,000 got nothing. Then Manitoba enacted laws that were designed to pass the land from Métis to non-Métis ownership. The children ended up selling their parcels at artificially diminished prices.

What followed was a period in which the Métis say they suffered widespread discrimination and persecution. In 1939, for instance, the poor Métis farmers who lived near the village of Ste. Madeleine were forced off their land to create pasture for cows belonging to farmers of European descent and the village was razed to its foundations.

Many of those whose physical appearance did not reveal their aboriginal ancestry chose to abandon claim to their Métis heritage. But anger at the broken promise of the Manitoba Act remained.

The Manitoba Métis Federation has been fighting for redress for more than 40 years and has spent more than $5-million to be compensated for the loss. The matter has gone through the trial courts and Manitoba Court of Appeal three times on different points of law. In the most recent decision about whether Canada had failed to live up to its promises with regard to the land, the Métis lost a 5-0 ruling.

So the victory at the Supreme Court on Friday has been more than 140 years in the making. And when Mr. Chartrand, the president of the MMF, returns to Manitoba from Ottawa this weekend, he plans to visit the grave of Louis Riel.

What's next: Métis to press for redress

Now that the Supreme Court has decided in their favour, Canada's Métis are looking for compensation for land they were promised more than a century ago.

"The onus is upon Canada to do the right thing now quickly," Mr. Chartrand said, adding he expects a "courtesy call" from Prime Minister Stephen Harper to get the ball rolling.

That would be a fitting end to the more than 140 years that his people have been marginalized, he said. It was under Conservative Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald that the Manitoba Act of 1870, which promised 1.4 million acres of land for Métis children, was signed "and maybe it will be a Conservative government that will finish off this business."

But the Métis colony in Manitoba at the time of Macdonald was just 10,000 strong. Today the group numbers 400,000. And while the land was valued between $1 and $2.50 an acre in the 1800s, a monetary settlement now could be worth billions.

The reaction of the federal government to Friday's decision was muted.

"The government of Canada has received the ruling and is reviewing it," said Jan O'Driscoll, a spokesman for Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt. "The government of Canada will continue to work with Métis people to improve their quality of life, and we remain committed to working together to improve the quality of life for all aboriginal peoples in Canada."

Which does not commit the government to negotiate a settlement. But clearly the Métis will press for redress.

"Something has to be done," Thomas Berger, the eminent former justice who acted as their lawyer, said outside court Friday. "I think they have shown there is every reason for negotiations now to remedy a historic wrong. That is what Canada is all about. We don't leave a trail of historic wreckage behind us as we move from one decade to another."

What the Métis won't do, said Mr. Chartrand, is make any attempt to displace people who now live on the land that was promised to their ancestors.

For one thing, he said, it would be impractical. "We can't expect third parties to give up their land today and the city of Winnipeg to move its buildings out of its location or outside of our city limits."

For another, he said, it would be wrong. "We would never want anybody else to go through what we've gone through as a people."

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