Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women Honours Alberta Métis President Audrey Poitras

By Clint Buehler

EDMONTON – The Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Woman has granted Metis Nation of Alberta (MNA) President Audrey Poitras its highest recognition.

Poitras was inducted earlier this month into IAAW’s “Circle of Honour” at the Institute’s gala “Esquao Awards” honouring Aboriginal women for their contributions and achievements.

“The award is given to Aboriginal women who are in leadership positions and are an example for others because of they know the struggles many Aboriginal women have to overcome in their lives,” says IAAW Founder and President Muriel Stanley Venne.

“Their courage, their strength and their beauty are shining examples for all of us, but especially for our young women and little girls.”
Prominent members of the Circle previously honoured include Dr. Colleen Klein (wife of former Alberta Premier Ralph Klein), Senator Thelma Chalifoux (retired), Member of Parliament and former federal cabinet minister Ethel Blondin-Andrew, and Member of the Alberta Legislature and former Alberta cabinet minister Pearl Calahasen.

Poitras, a descendant of the storied Dumont family, has been active in the Metis community throughout her life. Her direct involvement in the MNA began in 1990 when went to work as a clerk in the finance department, soon becoming finance director.

After observing first-hand several years of tumultuous conflicts and changes in MNA leadership, she ran for the top position in 1996, becoming the MNA’s first female president, and was re-elected in 1999, 2002 and 2005.

While serving as Interim President of the Metis National Council in 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled for the Metis in the historic R v. Powley case, a landmark decision affirming Metis as Aboriginal people with rights protected by the Canadian Constitution, including hunting, fishing and trapping.

The Powley decision was the hammer Poitras needed in negotiating with the Alberta government, and a year later the historic Interim Metis Harvesting Agreement was signed with the Alberta government, the first agreement in the country to deliver harvesting rights to Metis.

In her ten years at the helm, Poitras has led the MNA through an exciting and challenging decade of transition and achievement.
The MNA is now a recognized Nation with Aboriginal rights and is responsible for the ongoing delivery of programs and services aimed at improving the lives of Metis people in Alberta.

Under her leadership, the MNA has become results-based, as evidenced by the signing of a $52 million Aboriginal Human Resources Development Agreement with the Canadian government in 2005 to deliver training and employment assistance to Metis through its network of 17 Metis Employment Service Centres across the province.

Because of its success in fulfilling this agreement, the MNA continues to be considered by government and contemporaries as the leading Aboriginal Human Resource Development Agreement holder in Canada.

In April 2004, Poitras represented the Metis Nation at the historic Canada Aboriginal Peoples Roundtable attended by more than 20 federal cabinet ministers and 70 Aboriginal leaders from across the country. Sitting next to the prime minister, she affirmed the Metis Nation’s commitment to a Canada-Metis Nation Framework Agreement. (She had the benefit of the experience and success of an almost two decade-long Framework Agreement with the Alberta government to bring to the table.)

While under her leadership, the MNA has purchased buildings to house the offices of the Metis Nation and its affiliates, the biggest MNA real estate venture is as much about history and culture as it is about land and buildings. That venture is the ongoing development of the historic site now known as Metis Crossing at Victoria Landing northeast of Edmonton, opened in August 2005, which includes an interpretive centre and the ongoing development of facilities for a wide variety of activities, including becoming a tourist attraction.

Poitras is more than just Alberta’s Metis leader, who has worked so hard and accomplished so much for the Metis Nation and Metis people, however. She is equally—and probably more—devoted to her husband, Gordon, and as a devoted mother and grandmother.

For Poitras, the work she does is not just dedication to her family, but about building a better life for all the families in the Metis Nation.venture is the ongoing development of the historic site now known as Metis Crossing at Victoria Landing northeast of Edmonton, opened in August 2005, which includes an interpretive centre and the ongoing development of facilities for a wide variety of activities, including becoming a tourist attraction.

Poitras is more than just Alberta’s Metis leader, who has worked so hard and accomplished so much for the Metis Nation and Metis people, however. She is equally—and probably more—devoted to her husband, Gordon, and as a devoted mother and grandmother.
For Poitras, the work she does is not just dedication to her family, but about building a better life for all the families in the Metis Nation.