were compensated only for their improvements made to the land and not the land itself. Their descendants have fought since that time for compensation and recognition of their rights as an Aboriginal group. Their lobbying (along with non-Métis trappers and guides) was partly responsible the creation of the Willmore Wilderness Park in the 1950s, which they hoped would protect this hunting and trapping ground from oil and gas exploration. They have since come into conflict with some environmentalists and government officials who would prefer to exclude hunting and trapping from all parks in Alberta. The Mountain Métis are represented by Grande Cache Metis Local 1994, a local affiliate of the Métis Nation of Alberta. Politics The Government of Canada has been in negotiations since with two Métis organizations, the Métis Nation of Alberta (MNA) since 2016 and the Métis Settlements General Council (MSGC) since 2017. The MSGC "is the political and administrative body for the collective interests of the eight Metis Settlements... the General Council has 44 members consisting of 40 elected members from the Settlements, and 4 elected Executive members." In June 2019, the Government of Canada signed a Métis Government Recognition and Self-Government Agreement with the Métis Nation of Alberta, by which Canada recognized that the Métis Nation within Alberta has an inherent right to self-government and mandated the MNA to implement this right on its behalf. During the constitutional talks in the early 1980s, the MNAA was revived. The mandate of the MNA is to: be a representative voice on behalf of Métis people in Alberta; provide Métis people an opportunity to participate in the government’s policy and decision making process; and promote and facilitate the advancement of Métis people through the pursuit of self-reliance, self-determination, and self-management. Overall, the MNA has evolved from an organization: with a small membership to an organization whose membership exceeds 35,000 people spread across Alberta; focused on community consultation and representation to an organization that is both a representative body and a program and service provider; responsible for implementing specific projects to an organization responsible for providing ongoing programs and services; and that simply reacted to government policy changes to an organization that is called upon to actively participate in the policy formulation process. Expectations have been established for the MNA through the: Alberta/MNA Framework Agreement process; Federal/Provincial/MNA Tripartite Process Agreement process; and Government of Alberta’s Aboriginal Policy Framework. A steady