Toronto Star – The future of a lawsuit seeking to hold Canada accountable for the loss of Métis lands is in doubt after about a third of the plaintiffs asked to withdraw from the action when their legitimacy was questioned.

The Métis Nation of Alberta says the move proves that it speaks for Alberta’s Métis and that the provincial government’s dealings with breakaway groups should stop. “These are the same groups that the current provincial government props up and consults with to the exclusion of the vast majority of Métis in Alberta,” vice-president Dan Cardinal said in a release.

The so-called Durocher case, filed in 2019, was brought by 17 Métis groups and individuals in Alberta and another 39 similar plaintiffs from Saskatchewan on behalf of all Métis in the area. It sought compensation for the loss of a vast amount of land in the northern reaches of the two provinces through the issuance of scrip certificates to Métis around the turn of the last century.

The scrip was supposed to be redeemable for land. The available land, however, was far from the Métis homelands. Much scrip was bought by speculators for pennies on the dollar from people who didn’t understand the deal they were making. The lawsuit sought damages, a declaration that Métis still hold title to the land and negotiations toward a land claim.

But that lawsuit is now on hold. The Alberta plaintiffs have asked to be removed from it after the Métis Nation of Alberta and the federal government challenged the legitimacy of their claim to represent all Métis. In addition to 10 individuals, the groups withdrawing are the Métis associations in Athabasca Landing, Fort McKay, Lakeland, Willow Lake, Owl River and Conklin. The 17th plaintiff, Chard Métis Dene Inc., has been dissolved.

“When the light of scrutiny is on them, it’s telling that they say we’ll just withdraw,” said Jason Madden, lawyer for the Métis Nation. Métis Nation president Audrey Poitras said that any scrip settlement must be negotiated with representatives of all Métis.

The lawsuit sought compensation for the loss of a vast amount of land in Alberta and Saskatchewan