Dale McAuley. (Submitted photo)

By Nigel Maxwell

Election

Former northern mayor aims to be elected VP of MN-S

May 17, 2021 | 11:37 AM

A former mayor of Cumberland House is busy preparing for a new election.

Dale McAuley is one of five candidates vying for the position of vice-president in the upcoming Métis-Nation of Saskatchewan (MN-S) election.

“The reason I am running is because I care for my nation and I want things to be run properly and I want to see some accountability in there,” he explained. “Right now [the grass roots people] are totally blind to what’s going on.”

McAuley has political experience within the MN-S, both as an area director as well as associate minister of economic development. One of McAuley’s key priorities is making sure the provincial registry is up to date.

“The first step towards self-governance is we have to know how many people are Métis in the province of Saskatchewan,” he said, explaining funding is based on capita.

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Another issue for McAuley centres around the provincial constitution and the need he feels to ensure it is both understood and read.

“Right now we have a constitution that isn’t even followed. That’s our living document, we are supposed to follow the constitution,” he said. “We can’t just use it when we want to use it.”

In addition to his experience as mayor, McAuley is also a former chair of New North, a non-profit association that assists in advocating on behalf of 35 northern communities within the Northern Saskatchewan Administrative District (NSAD). If elected McAuley has committed to work collectively with the people, explaining the people are the government, not the provincial Métis council.

“It’s like running a ship. If you don’t have a good captain you are all gonna sink and nobody wants that,” he said.

In June 2019, the federal government signed framework historic self-government agreements with the Métis nations of Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan. McAuley said those agreements represent a good stepping stone for Métis people, but added more needs to be done now in terms of economic development and creating partnerships for industry.

“If we don’t work in those ways, we are going to be back to ground zero and we have to be very, very transparent and accountable.”

The MN-S election has been scheduled for May 29.

The other vice-president candidates are Michelle Leclair, Darren Deschambeault, Gerald Morin and Darrel Burnouf.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell