Grassroots Métis Statement on Winnipeg Police and the MMF: Abolish the Police!

Last year, in response to statements issued by the Métis National Council and the Manitoba Métis Federation condemning Hereditary Chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en and land defenders, we organized a statement of solidarity. You can see that post, and the signatories here.

Today, I am going to share with you another grassroots Métis response to ongoing MMF support for a police force that disproportionately targets and kills Black and Indigenous people. Please visit their page and sign if you are Métis or non-Métis BIPOC. If you are white settler, please boost the statement rather than signing.

Here is the statement:

This week, David Chartrand and the Manitoba Métis Federation Cabinet wrote a statement of support Commending Chief Danny Smith and the Winnipeg Police Service.

The MMF is parroting police propaganda that aims to convince us that “a few bad apples” is the only issue with the police, rather than the system of policing itself. Black feminist abolitionists and the Black Lives Matter movement have produced the knowledge and evidence that police reform is not possible and that the institution of policing is inherently violent, white supremacist, and colonial. Organizers and allies across so-called Canada have been calling to defund and dismantle the police, and to build alternatives that will truly make society safer and more equitable. 

Public confidence in police services is falling as the systemic nature of police brutality, murder, racism, and misogyny becomes more understood. So too is many Métis citizens’ confidence in Métis leadership at the MMF and MNC, who ally themselves with police, industry, and colonial government at the expense of Indigenous peoples and all those marginalized by these oppressive systems. 

Grassroots Métis people have always defended and stood up for the protection of the most vulnerable in our communities. It’s beyond time we quit praising police forces who commit violence against Black and Indigneous communities and start working towards reallocating massive policing budgets to community support and services. Police and prisons do not make our communities safer: empowered community members, well-funded public services, and self-determination do. Colonialism is the single biggest driver of violence in the lives of Indigenous people, and police have always been the colonial ground troops enforcing that violence. 

As Métis, we can look to our own history to see how policing has been at the center of colonial state violence for centuries. Policing was developed and deployed to clear our territories for colonial settlement; to undermine our sovereignty and self-determination; to enforce the theft of our children into Residential Schools; to criminalize and fill jails with our people; to undermine our own laws and justice traditions; to divide our communities and break our ties with other Indigenous peoples, etc.

A year ago, the MNC and MMF released statements supporting colonial court injunctions and violent RCMP action in Wet’suwet’en territory, essentially turning their backs on the struggle of our Wet’suwet’en relatives to curry favour with the colonizers with the hopes of enriching themselves at the expense of other Indigenous nations. A few months later, we witnessed a spree of police murders and violence in Winnipeg and across the country, with Black and Indigenous people the main victims. These tragedies were just the latest in a centuries-long campaign to destroy Indigenous sovereignty and peoplehood, and to literally clear our lands of our presence to guarantee settler access to our territories and resources.

It is now clear that the MMF plans to continue publicly backing the same government forces that actively commit violence against and murder Black and Indigenous people. Chartrand has said, “I guarantee the vast majority of my people, without doubt, without hesitation, will support what I’m doing.” Let’s show him otherwise. Let’s push back against police violence and the ways in which Métis political organizations like the MMF are normalizing this violence.  

We, the undersigned, are Métis citizens from across the homeland and supporters who stand in solidarity with Black abolitionist organizers and the families of Black and Indigenous people who have experienced police violence. Métis people taking a position of support for defunding the police are not the inconsequential dissenting voices. We are part of a growing movement on our homelands that recognizes that our people – and all peoples – are stronger and safer without colonial cops continuing to terrorize and brutalize us. Many of us have experienced police brutality ourselves, or have supported loved ones in the aftermath of that experience. We stand with the family of Eishia Hudson and all those who have been victims of the Winnipeg police force. 

We cannot condone the MMF, or any Métis political organization, supporting ongoing police control and violence. To reaffirm what was written in the Métis Statement of Solidarity with Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders, “Métis call ourselves otipêyimisiwak, the People Who Own Themselves. Throughout our history we formed governing structures when needed, and then dissolved them when they no longer served their purpose. We are not shackled to the provincial and national organizations that claim to be our voice and our sole legitimate political representation, nor will we be silenced by them.” 

We will not allow President Chartrand or the MMF to silence, sideline, or denigrate our voices, or the voices of those with whom we stand in solidarity. We call upon the MMF to retract their statement in support of the Winnipeg police, and call on all Métis organizations and citizens to join with us to defund, dismantle, and abolish the police, and to build towards decolonial futures that will guarantee true safety for the Métis, and for all peoples. 

Consider writing to your Métis local to reinforce the need for defunding the police and committing to learning more by reading one of the following resources below.

Resources and Further Reading

Please add your support by signing this letter. We also invite non-Métis BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) to sign in solidarity and ask that white settlers show support by boosting rather than signing.

SIGN HERE.