ABOUT THE METIS SETTLEMENTS GENERAL COUNCIL
The Metis Settlements General Council (MSGC) and the Settlements’ existing responsibilities are of great importance to Settlement members and include building and maintaining housing, roads and bridges, daycare and schooling, recreational facilities, cemeteries and bereavement costs, economic development and job training, social services, delivery of potable water, wastewater treatment and waste management, garbage management, including collection, local landfills and regional transfers, and land tenures and management.
The Metis Settlements and their members have always been collectively represented by MSGC and predecessor bodies such as the Federation and each Settlement Association.
MSGC and the eight Settlements work together and are responsible for several municipal services and provincial jurisdictions that Settlement members rely on for day to day life. Caring for existing members and accepting new members are significant ongoing responsibilities for MSGC and the Settlements. MSGC and the Settlements continue to balance their responsibility to provide essential municipal and provincial services from “A to Z” to members.
Our Land
A Metis homeland in Alberta. A constitutional first in Canada.
Across 1.25 million acres are eight communities, populated by the women and men of the Fathers of Federation and those before them, each connected by the vision for self-government and self-determination. The first and only Metis self-government in Canada, recognized constitutionally as a distinct and protected people, the Metis Settlements are a vital and rich part of our Canadian cultural identity.
Our Culture
Protecting a way of life for all generations will be our legacy.
For the thousands who call the Settlements home, our culture is a way of life. We hunt, fish and farm as we always have, even as traditions give way to modern conveniences and more of our young people explore opportunities in university, college, and abroad. All roads lead back home. Our history, languages, leadership and wisdom are shared down the generations as the food of life for every new Metis child born today.
Our People
We are the bridge between worlds, European and Indigenous.
Generations of Metis have called the Settlements home, building what we have today. New
generations carry this legacy for equality and freedom with them into the future. Our eternal
promise to protecting our land and culture is stitched into the Metis flag, and woven into the heart
of every settlement Metis.
Our Future
Our children are our future
Building for them and educating them are two of our highest priorities. It’s for them that we continue to advocate for Metis rights and freedoms. We’re putting more tools in the hands of new leaders with new opportunities to grow and succeed. So far, it’s working. There are more college and university graduates from Settlements than ever before. Three generations of Metis leaders have helped each new generation aspire, each prospering from the fruits of self-government, self-determination, and the freethinking men and women who came before.