Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples: Remarks by Senator Edward Head

File contains opening remarks by Senator Edward Head. Head discusses his Metis origins and gives an overview of his family's story from the time it left St. Norbert, Manitoba, to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, back to northern Manitoba and his home community of Granville Lake. He discusses the need for increased accessibility to education for Metis people, hunting and fishing rights, the importance of the Commission, economic development, the need for a fair justice system for Metis people, and the need for better health care for the Metis particularly in the north, the effects of legislative separation of Indian and Metis people, the failure of the federal and provincial governments to respond to flooding of Metis communities in Manitoba, the failure of the two governments to give real representation to Metis politicians in their decision making, and the imbalances between the way Metis and status Indians are treated by government.