Supreme Court makes historic ruling on Métis land claim

Federal government failed in its obligations to the Métis people under the Manitoba Act.

Interview by Joanna Dawson

 — Posted March 8, 2013

The Manitoba Act received royal assent on May 12, 1870, ending a period of conflict in the Red River Settlement and formally creating the Province of Manitoba. However, the form of negotiations and the terms and obligations set out under the Act are the subject of a claim brought against the federal government by the Manitoba Métis Federation.

In the ruling on March 8, 2013 that ended the thirty-year claim, the Supreme Court of Canada determined that the federal government failed in its obligations to the Métis people under the Manitoba Act.

Philippe Mailhot, historian and director of the Saint Boniface Museum, provides a historical perspective of the claim and the Supreme Court’s ruling.

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