The Metis Nation of Ontario has voted to remove members whose citizenship files do not have full documentation to prove a Metis connection or ancestry.
The organization representing Metis people in the province says it decided after its annual general assembly last August to hold a vote on whether existing members whose files do not meet citizenship requirements should be removed.
That came after it began assessing the completeness of its citizenship files in 2017.
The organization says work over the last six years has indicated approximately 18 per cent of its membership, or 5,400 members, could not be verified as Metis rights-holders because of missing documentation.
It says the vote, which was held from early December to late January, saw 71 per cent of those who cast ballots decide to remove members with incomplete citizenship files from its registry.
The organization says removals won’t be immediate, since a special or annual assembly would first need to be held for bylaws and registry policy to be amended.
But the organization’s president says the results of the vote shows members want to ensure all of the Metis Nation of Ontario’s citizens are Metis rights-holders.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 2, 2023.This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
