For more than 15 years, lawyer Jason Madden has been the legal counsel for Métis communities across Canada, including the MMF. On March 8, 2013, he welcomed the Supreme Court decision recognizing that the Crown had broken its promise made to the Métis peo

“32 years. It took 32 years and millions of dollars to recognize that injustice. It’s incredible to think that the MMF began this battle before I was even born.” But make no mistake, despite his youthful appearance, Jason Madden is one of Canada’s staunchest defenders of Métis causes. A Métis who hails from Northwest Ontario, Jason Madden is now indelibly linked to any major case dealing with First Nations and Métis rights, in all Canadian jurisdictions and ultimately before the Supreme Court. In 2003, he was ont of the defence lawyer for the landmark R. v. Powley case, a precedent‐setting decision which helped giving the Métis back their treaty hunting and ishing rights in Canada. A decade later, Madden again pleaded the case brought forward by the MMF, claiming that the Crown had not honoured its promise to provide a grant of 1.4 million acres of land to the children of the Red River Métis in exchange for Manitoba’s entry into Confederation. “It’s a promise that Canada quickly forgot. After all, we represented everything that the English Protestants despised: Catholic, French and Indigenous,” says the lawyer. “As a result, since 1981, when it irst brought the matter before the court, the MMF has had a single objective. This is clearly not just about rewriting history or reclaiming the land sold to others in the meantime, but rather about closing the gap that has been widening since 1870, and once again becoming partners in Confederation, establishing new relationships among nations. So when the Supreme Court recognized that this promise had been broken, we all felt a sense of equality. The way we have treated our Indigenous people is our original sin. We have inally reached the stage where we have stopped sweeping the dirt under the rug and are paving the way for negotiations. Naturally, it was some time coming, given that the previous federal government had no interest in negotiating. However, when the current government was sworn in in 2015, we could set the wheels in motion. In May 2016, we signed the Memorandum of Understanding, which opened the door to negotiations, and in November 2016, we inally signed a Framework Agreement. That was a historic day, because the MMF, recognized by the Supreme Court as the legal representative of all the descendants of children from the Red River Settlement, had inally broken through the glass ceiling.” In the meantime, Jason Madden once again defended the Métis cause before the Supreme Court in Daniels v. Canada, which has recognized Métis people as having Aboriginal status. “It’s the trifecta,” says Jason Madden. “These three cases support each other and open the door to a more equitable future for the Métis.”