'I'm still in tears,' local Mtis leader says of Supreme Court decision

A Supreme Court decision that ends a 17-year court battle over what level of government oversees Mtis and non-status Indians is a big first step, one local Mtis leader says.

"This is such a great opportunity for our nation. We have been in political limbo for hundreds of years," Jennifer Parkinson, president of the Grand River Mtis Council, said Thursday after the decision came down.

• Supreme Court of Canada extends rights to Mtis and non-status Indians

"The Mtis have been in a political football game between the federal and provincial government because there was no government responsible for Mtisrights or land claims or the Mtis people, so this is a great step forward for the Mtis nation," she said. " And right now, I'm still in tears."

Ruling opens the door

The Supreme Court ruled more than 200,000 Mtis and 400,000 non-status aboriginal people who are not affiliated with specific reserves will be under the federal government's responsibility. That gives people pursuing land claims or seeking additional government services and benefits a starting point to work from.

Dwight Dorey, national chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, said it was "a great day."

"Now hopefully we will not have to wait any longer to sit at the table," he told CBC News.

Gary Lipinski, president of the Mtis Nation of Ontario, agreed.

"Clearly, it has opened the door in our view to now move forward with the federal government on a nation-to-nation basis, dealing with developing a land claims process, to deal with historic promises that were made to Mtis people as Canada developed as a country," he said, adding that it would provide access "tosome of the social programs that most Canadians wouldn't recognize or realize that those programs aren't available to Mtis people."

"It's certainly allows us to now again have hope, hope that we can finally have our proper place in Confederation, truly recognized."

'We will always be Mtis'

Lipinski said there has been a sense that Mtis and non-status Indians are indigenous, but "not quite as equal as Inuit or the First Nations."

"There isn't a hierarchy, they're all equal indigenous peoples and there's a responsibility by the federal government to treat and deal with them fairly and equitably, so it creates an air of optimism and hope that we can finally get redress on these long-standing issues," he said.

But, Parkinson noted, the decision does not make them Indians.

"A lot of people think now we're Indians.We are basically Indians under Section [91in the Constitution],which just means who is responsible for us. But we are not under the Indian Act," she said. "We are not Indians. We are Mtis. And we will always be Mtis."