Another major factor in both the development (or lack of development) of Métis identity, and in how Métis populations were treated, was the effect of the temporal and/or physical location of a given half-breed population. Mixed-blood populations in Acadia and New France were embroiled in a different set of historical circumstances, than were those of Sault Ste. Marie, or Red River. All of those communities fit most of the socio- economic and historical and political identifiers listed above, but only one of them is commonly identified in Canadian history today as a Métis community. The policies of the British Crown toward mixed bloods differed from those of the colonial authorities and differed again among the Federal and Provincial governments after Confederation. 

The creation of international, colonial, national, and provincial, and borders, as we shall see in the historical background in this paper, also played a major role in how mixed-blood communities were identified and dealt with in both colonial and modern-day Canada. 

Postscript 

Evidently there are a great many factors that contribute to the existence of a Métis population in Canada. Any simple definition applied to all of that population would only be possible by ignoring or eliminating several of those factors, unless it were specifically designed to include them. Fortunately the application of definitional criteria to an individual is not as difficult as applying those same criteria across the board to all Métis. 

Basically an individual has only to match himself or herself to a few fundamental criteria which were outlined at the beginning of this paper, i.e. Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal ancestry, self-declaration, and community confirmation. In terms of individual identity only the first two would be necessary. Community confirmation only enters the picture when an individual wishes to qualify for a right or benefit which applies to a specific Métis community.