The Fort McKay Métis were granted an interim injunction against Corey Ann Pruden Morin on Monday, April 8 after Morin had made several defamation social posts against the group and their president, Ron Quintal.
Quintal calls the posts malicious.
“My reputation, my community’s reputation have been attacked in a way that has hurt our reputation,” said Quintal. “I’m called a crook or I’m corrupt and that’s just not the facts. The fact that things are misinterpreted and turned into something that they are not is ultimately the reason we sought the courts assistance in dealing with this issue.”
He says that the injunction will prevent Morin for making any further statements against him or the Fort McKay Métis.
“We don’t want to silence anybody, we’re not seeking to stop anybody from expressing their concerns however there is limitations to freedom of speech,” said Quintal. “From our perspective when you attack an organization that is doing so much good work for the intent purposes of inflating another political organization it takes away from all that hard work, but second of all it also hurts the integrity of what we have been able to achieve as community.”
He says the majority of his community is supportive of him in demanding the injunction.
“They want to ensure our integrity is upheld.”
Quintal tells us integrity, credibility and transparency is very important for the Fort Mckay Metis since they ended their membership with the Métis Nation of Alberta (MNA) in order to be independent.
“We are ground zero when it comes to oilsands development and we don’t want to have an organization run out of Edmonton to be able to have ultimate control over how our community is consulted and the level of consultation throughout that process,” said Quintal. “We feel the standards that we have been able to achieve for consultation in the community of Fort McKay are far and above what you would find in the Métis Nation of Alberta.”
On March 26, Quintal was also quick to dismissed rumors that were sent out by the MNA claiming that he had resigned as the President of the Fort McKay Métis and abandoned his members.
A retraction by the MNA was issued shortly after.
The Fort McKay Métis also filed a court application seeking an injunction against the MNA for alleged business interference in June 2018.
