Mtis Nation 'finding ourselves in Confederation' with land claim negotiations, president of MMF says

The president of the Manitoba Mtis Federation says the opening-up of negotiations on a 146-year-old land claim dispute is going to change the waytheMtisNation sees itself in Canada for the better.

"I think we're slowly finding ourselves in Confederation, where do we fit in," said David Chartrand on Wednesday.

"We've always been excluded and locked out. As theMtisNation, we've never been really allowed to sit at the table."

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On Tuesday,Chartrandsigned an agreement in Ottawa after Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett was given the "green light" to negotiate a land claim dispute based on the 1870 Manitoba Act, which created the province and brought it into Confederation.

In 2013, the Supreme Court ruledthe government had failed to uphold its commitment to distribute more than 5,000 square kilometres of land to7,000 children of the Red River Mtis, as outlined in the Manitoba Act.

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Nearly 150 years later, Chartrand said the opportunity to negotiate will giveMtis people a chance to right that wrong.

"I think it's setting a new relationship [for] where the Mtiswill fit, and finally find its place in Confederation," Chartrand said.

According to the agreement signed on Tuesday,Chartrandand Bennett have ahandful of scheduled meetings to work out some issues that still need to be negotiated, including a financial settlement for land that wasn't given to the Mtis.

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"From my perspective it's going to take a little bit more pathway, 'cause a lot of people still don't understand the full complexity of what this means," Chartrand said.

"But it's going to be good for Manitoba. When we of course receive our trust and develop our settlements, the community of Manitoba as a whole is going to benefit."