On the 18th of January 1983 the MCA telexed Prime Minister Trudeau to announce their withdrawal from NCC and their demand that NCC be decertified as a Métis representative at the constitutional conference. On January 22, 1983 over 100 elected Métis representatives met in Edmonton to discuss formation of a new national Métis political group. However, they could not solve the issue of structure, but agreed to formalize an alliance called the Métis Constitutional Conference (MCC) for the purposes of representation at the constitutional talks. This group was composed of the three prairie provincial associations and the FMS with the under-standing that the Métis from British Columbia and northwestern Ontario would join later. Jim Sinclair then negotiated with NCC for one seat their seats to be assigned to MCC at the constitutional talks. Elmer Ghostkeeper took the MCC seat for the talks in February 1983. On February 28 under pressure from AFN and ICNI the federal Justice Minister announced that they would only recognize NCC as the Métis representative and MCC was effectively expelled from the talks. On March 3, 1983 representatives of MMF, AMNSIS and MAA reached an accord on a national Métis representative body. The boards of the charter members then met and the Métis National Council was officially formed on March 8, 1983. Notably, Federation of Metis Settlements (FMS) had been left out. The delegates also decided to establish a position for a national representative to attend the first minister’s conference. Clément Chartier was elected to that post. He signed the 1983 Constitutional Accord on behalf of MNC. After the first ministers conference of 1983 the MNC dealt with requests for admission by the other Métis associations contiguous with the three Prairie Provinces and the Louis Riel Métis Association of British Columbia, and the Northwestern Ontario Métis Federation were admitted. The assembly also eliminated the position of national representative but continued with a small lobby office in Ottawa. A committee under Clem Chartier including Elmer Ghostkeeper from FMS was to steer policy development in the interim. In the constitutional conferences of 1885 the MNC decided that only the Provincial affiliate presidents would sit at the table for MNC. At the annual MNC assembly of October 16, 1988 the boards of the member affiliates elected W. Yvon Dumont from Manitoba as MNC president. Dumont served as president until 1993; successor presidents are Gerald Morin (1993-2003, suspended, January 12, 2003), Audrey Poitras (January 12, 2003 interim President and National spokesperson), Clément Chartier (October 2003 to present).