N.W.T. health dept. directs Mtis benefits applicant to apply for Indian status

SomeMtis leaders are upset with N.W.T.'shealth department for directing somepeople seeking Mtis Health Benefitsto apply for Indian Status and coverage underthe federal government'snon-insured health benefits program.

"It's a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms," said NWT Mtis Nation president Garry Bailey.

CBC obtained a letter that was sent by the health department to an indigenous Mtis of the Northwest Territories last year.

The letter states that the applicant may qualify for non-insured health benefits as a status Indian and advises the applicant to contactAboriginal Affairs and apply for Indian status. It says if the applicant isrefused treaty status, they can send in a new application for MtisHealth Benefits, and attachthe refusal letter from Aboriginal Affairs.

The letter has Mtis leaders outraged.

Northwest Territory Mtis Nation President Garry Bailey said the government should not be asking Mtis to apply for Indian status before applying for their MtisHealth Benefits.

"You decide what you want to be; if you want to be a treaty person or a Mtis person,that's your choice on how you want to be recognized,"said Bailey.

His concerns were also shared by North Slave Mtis Alliance President Bill Enge.

"The government should not be trying to force march the Mtis out of their Mtis identity and their rights at the altar of extended medical benefits for the Government of Canada. There's no way that should be going on," said Enge.

"It certainly sounds to me like a misapplication of the policy, and if indeed it is operating in that way... then that practice has to stop and it has to stop now."

Prior to 1985, the Indian Act prevented First Nations women who married non-aboriginal men from keeping their Indian status. In 1985, the Government of Canada introduced BillC-31which gave First Nations women and their children the right to register as status Indians. In 2011, another amendment to the Indian Act was passed, Bill C-3. This allowed for one more generation the grandchildren to register for Indian status.

The Mtis Alliance president said that if the GNWT is forcing Mtis to apply for Indian status before applying for MtisHealth Benefits that could be costly to the Mtis in the territory.

"That would mean a Mtis like myself would actually be disqualified from holding the MtisHealth Benefits card and I'm the president of the North Slave Mtis Alliance,"said Enge.

Both Mtis leaders say such a policy by the health departmentwill drive down the indigenous Mtis population in the territory.

Bailey said he doesn't understand why the territorial governmentwould make Mtis apply for Indian status but said he has his own suspicions.

"Of course it's got to boil down to the almighty dollar, I'd imagine," he said.

"You know the GNWT is probably worried about their budget."

TheMtisHealth Benefitsprogram is territorial; the non-insured healthbenefits program forFirst Nations and Inuit isfederal.

Bailey said he plans to bring up the issue with the Mtis Nation board and talk to the GNWT directly.

The N.W.T. Department of Health and Social Services was unable to provide someone to comment before deadline.