for the return of certain lands. Five men, sometimes dubbed "The Famous Five", (James P. Brady, Malcolm Norris, Peter Tomkins Jr., Joe Dion, Felix Callihoo) were instrumental in having the Alberta government form the 1934 "Ewing Commission", headed by Albert Ewing, to deal with land claims The Alberta government passed the Métis Population Betterment Act in 1938.The Act provided funding and land to the Métis. (The provincial government later rescinded portions of the land in certain areas.) Organizations The Provisional Government of Saskatchewan was the name given by Louis Riel to the independent state he declared during the North-West Rebellion (Resistance) of 1885 in what is today the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The governing council was named the Exovedate, Latin for "of the flock". The council debated issues ranging from military policy to local bylaws and theological issues. It met at Batoche, Saskatchewan, and exercised real authority only over the Southbranch Settlement. The provisional government collapsed that year after the Battle of Batoche. The Métis National Council was formed in 1983, following the recognition of the Métis as "aboriginal peoples of Canada", in Section Thirty-five of the Constitution Act, 1982. The MNC was a member of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples (WCIP). In 1997 the Métis National Council was granted NGO Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The MNC's first ambassador to this group was Clement Chartier. MNC is a founding member of the American Council of Indigenous Peoples (ACIP). The Métis National Council is currently composed of four provincial Métis organizations, though numbers have varied over time. namely, Métis Nation of Alberta Métis Nation British Columbia Métis Nation-Saskatchewan Métis Nation of Ontario There used to be five groups, but in September 2021 the Manitoba Metis Federation left over membership issues involving the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO), with President David Chartrand citing issues of the Council accepting the MNO despite the MNO having "nearly 80 per cent non-Métis Nation Citizens in their registry." The Métis National Council has stated that they reject the idea of new Ontario Métis communities, and in 2020 they suspended the membership of the Métis Nation of Ontario, due to concerns that 90% of the MNOs registered members did not fulfill the requirements of citizenship put in place by the National Council in 2002, notably the requirement for an ancestral link to the Métis homelands and the Red River area