Re: BC Métis Federation Membership Year End Thank You
Members and Partners,
I write today for the last time in 2015 as families prepare for Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. It is hard to believe the BC Métis Federation began only 4 years ago and against all odds we have achieved such success. This organization has endured several personal leadership and political attacks, internally and externally. However, despite various deliberate attempts to stop the BC Métis Federation, the reality is our organization has become strongly supported and extremely credible Métis provincial representative organization for thousands of Métis people in British Columbia. Our focus on Métis culture, proper industry engagement, innovation through economic development, and taking governments to task on the assertion of Métis rights has earned unprecedented trust.
Today we are sharing an updated BC Métis Federation map that showcases our approved members as of December 2015. What the map demonstrates is the current residence locations of approved BC Métis Federation members (please note this is not their harvesting locations). Membership has been the cornerstone of our development and today we truly represent individuals from throughout British Columbia. We are proud of the membership application systems BC Métis Federation has created that are secure, meet objective verifiable standards, and require proper genealogical information. Each month the organization continues to approve 20-30 new members and applications continue to increase. Our membership processing time averages 4-7 weeks and this is extremely efficient and effective. The feedback from individuals who have completed the processing continues to be very positive and our board is proud of this important work.
I wanted to share and focus on this work as we get ready for a new world that many of us believe will be before the Métis people in Canada in 2016. The new Federal Government appears to be willing to support Aboriginal/Indigenous peoples and the Daniel’s Case is expected to be ruled on by March 2016. These important issues will drive the new legal focus for all Métis in Canada and not just other political organizations that want the resources but deliver ineffective programs and services.
This past year has been successful and today the BC Métis Federation board continues to work hard for our members. On behalf of our board and team members we say thank you to all members and friends who believe in the vision of better Métis representative government. This is not easy and so many of our leaders feel the stress each month. Seeing the membership grow in every location in British Columbia reveals 2 key points:
1. BC Métis Federation has a strong British Columbia mandate
2. BC Métis Federation is here to stay and strong grassroots support
In closing our board sincerely wishes members and friends a festive holiday season. We thank you for being a part of building the BC Métis Federation and we can all share in this successful membership map celebration today. The ongoing growth in membership is a result of our effective communications and new initiatives to bring our members together each week and we look forward to 2016 and beyond!
Thank you for the support and we welcome everyone to become part of the BC Métis Federation!
Thank you,
Keith Henry President BC Métis Federation
[ilink url=”http://bcmetis.com/wp-content/uploads/BC-Metis-Federation-Membership-Map-December-16th-2015.pdf” style=”download”]Click here to download this letter in PDF format.[/ilink]
[ilink url=”http://bcmetis.com/wp-content/uploads/BCMF-Map-December-2015.jpg” style=”download”]Click here to download the BCMF December 2015 Map.[/ilink]
