The North Slave Métis Alliance (“NSMA”) represents the Aboriginal rights-bearing Métis people of the Great Slave Lake area, Northwest Territories, who primarily exercise and assert their Aboriginal rights in the region north and east of Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories.
The NSMA’s mandate includes:
- The assertion, protection, and implementation of the Aboriginal rights of the North Slave Métis People;
- The exercise of Métis responsibility to protect the environment and to promote and enhance Métis education, economic, social, political, and cultural development.
The NSMA is vitally concerned with the protection, preservation, and sustainable use of its traditional lands and resources. With that in mind, the NSMA is committed to principles of economic sustainability, environmental stewardship, and self-determination in respect of its traditional lands and resources.
On June 20, 2013 the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories confirmed that NSMA and its members have a strong prima facie claim as a Métis community that holds Aboriginal rights protected by S.35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 in the area north and east of Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories. The court also determined that the Government of the Northwest Territories owed the NSMA and its members a duty to consult about the management of the Bathurst caribou herd and the ability of the NSMA members to participate in the limited Aboriginal harvest of the Bathurst caribou herd.