Three Métis groups have signed a deal with Ottawa that recognizes them as Indigenous governments.
The deal between the federal government and the Métis nations of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario gives them powers that include control over citizenship and the right to negotiate further agreements, such as compensation for land lost due to the notorious Métis scrip program.
It builds on a previous document signed in 2019 that recognized that Métis people have the right to self-government.
Métis Nation of Alberta President Audrey Poitras says the deal, signed in Edmonton by federal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller, will give her members the same constitutional standing as First Nations people.
She says it will allow Métis to gain control over important issues such as housing, and child and family services.
It will also allow talks to begin over compensation for scrip, a type of coupon that Métis people were issued in the 19th century to extinguish their title to the land they had occupied for generations.
Much of that scrip was swindled from them or bought for pennies on the dollar.
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