Manitoba Métis Federation fires back at AFN national chief

That it's insulting, I find it discriminatory, I find it racist. The Manitoba Métis Federation is not happy with National Chief Cindy Woodhouse-Nipinak. That's after her comments on Monday, after a historic meeting between First Nations, premiers and the Prime Minister. When asked about the idea of abolishing the Indian Act, Woodhouse-Nipinak said it was important First Nations be able to decide for themselves. Saying the government's had too much say for too long. The government ends up saying, oh, no, you don't belong to that band, when in fact many of them do. And you're creating this big group of Métis, people across this country that probably have First Nations roots and are not some new group. She later doubled down, saying First Nations had to have control of who could claim membership. There's a lot of confused people out there who are claiming to be Indigenous, a lot of pretendians, and then a whole group of everybody else who says, You know, I'm Métis, like, and yet a lot of them, like, you know, well, can you trace yourself back to a First Nation? The Assembly of First Nations said it couldn't elaborate on the National Chiefs' meeting. David Chartrand, president of the Manitoba Métis Federation, says her comments aren't backed by history. And I think she should go home and learn about her history, learn a little bit more about Manitoba, learn the name L'Oréal. Maybe she'll know more about history and she'll know that we do exist and we're the constitution of this country. Grand Chief Kyra Wilson, head of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, issued a statement in firm support of Woodhouse-Nipinak. She said the National Chief was right to challenge definitions of identity imposed onto people by the government. Chartrand says First Nations citizens and leaders have called him to disagree with what was said. My perspective is not the view of many chiefs I got calls from already saying she does not speak on our behalf, neither does Kyra. They're saying no, we want to partner with the Métis, we want to sit down with the Métis. Chartrand says he's called a meeting with Prairie Métis leaders to discuss a course of action. Alicia Wang, CBC News, Winnipeg.