Map showing Mtis homeland boundaries sparks online conversation

A new map outlining the Mtis homelanddrew criticism online this week from First Nations living within the boundaries that include three entireprovinces, parts of two and part of the Northwest Territories.

The map was passed as a resolution and released earlier this week by the Mtis National Council.

On the map, the Mtishomeland encompasses all of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, extending into parts of northwestern Ontario, northeastern B.C. and southern N.W.T. The boundaries of the "blue blob" and its intended meaning became the source of much debate on social media.

WillGoodon, minister of housing for the ManitobaMtisFederation anda delegate to the general assembly of theMtisNational Council, saidthe map was not meant to be used lay claim to territory to the lands outlined, but rather to help Mtis governments decide who their members are.

"This is something that I think was necessary now to be put forward because of some of the external issues like what's going on in Nova Scotia, Quebec," said Goodon.

Goodon is referring to groups in eastern Canadawho are self-identifying as Mtis.

"There's some real dangers there and that's one of the reasons why we thought we had to put the map out," saidGoodon.

"Because of the the way that all of our cultural symbols are being usurped by people who aren't us."

In the 2016 Canadian census, the Mtis population had the highest increase among Indigenous groups with a 51.2 per cent increase. The number of people who call themselves Mtis soared nearly 150 per cent in Quebec and 125 per cent in Nova Scotia between the2006 and2016 censuses.

Although the map is not new, the Mtis National Council plan on using the map in futureto identify who is a member of the Mtis Nation and who is not.

"One of the things that we wanted to put out there as well is that our our MtisNation citizens who have a connection to the nation's homeland will be protected by our Mtis governments, no matter where they live," said Goodon.

Self-determining membership

When Lynn Acoose, chief of Sakimay First Nation in southern Saskatchewan, first saw the map online this week, she wondered if it had anything to do with theFederal Recognition and Implementation of Indigenous Rights Framework.

Earlier in November, the federal government announced that the framework wasn't going to be implemented before the federal election in 2019.Mtis leaders have been pushing to get the framework approved.

"They're in the process of trying to limit the definition of Mtis peopleso that these rights will flow from an agreement that they're currently working on," said Acoose.

However, she thinks that these processes are used as a divide and conquer strategy by the federal government to pit Indigenous groups against each other.

"We were part of a larger kinship system that didn't necessarily divide the Mtis and the First Nations people," said Acoose.

That kinship systemis something that Goodon agrees with.

"If you go and look at the Mtis citizens who live in the three Prairie provinces, we're all related to each other," said Goodon.

Both agree that the lines of division are arbitrary and Acoose believes that Indigenous groups should be able to decide who their members are.

"I don't think that that's our business,as Anishinaabeg or Nehiyawak or whoever we are," said Acoose.

"I think that ifthat's their process, then they should do that. It's not up to us to tell other people or other nations how they should define themselves."