Having establish three basic criteria for the identification of Metis we can now examine the Metis populations that actually exists in Canada today. Please keep in mind that the categories used below are simply descriptions of variations I perceive in conditions among different Metis populations.  They are not ÏrealÓ in the sense that Metis individuals or groups  actually identify themselves according to these categories.  They definitely do not.  Nor are the categories intended to establish  hierarchies of Metis populations with implications of ÏrealÓ, ÏrealerÓ and ÏrealestÓ.  I am only trying to point out that there are many Metis populations within the above criteria but which also have some dissimilar characteristics.  All of them, however, are legitimate Metis peoples in Canada.

The Traditional/Historic Metis

This group Is comprised of Metis people who today live in Metis settlements communities or neighborhoods and most of whom have an unbroken line of descendency from an original colonial mixed blood population.  At a minimum this includes Metis in virtually every province and territory (fewer in the Maritimes, with greater numbers in Labrador; significant (but indeterminate) numbers in Quebec;  increasing numbers as one moves westward and northward across Ontario; largest numbers in the Prairie provinces; and fewer again in British Columbia.  For the most part these communities are in the northern parts of their respective provinces and are ubiquitous in the Territories.

Very often these Metis are still actively involved in Ïtraditional Metis activitiesÓ i.e. hunting, trapping fishing, gathering and other resource based means of earning or supplementing a livelihood.  This group might be described as the historic Metis population.  It is this group that is most likely to have land claims related to Aboriginal title on unsurrendered land and Treaty rights based on unilateral exclusion from their previous Treaty Ïstatus.Ó Considerable numbers of the descendants of this group have been moving into smaller urban centers and larger southern cities for the last several; decades.

It is this group that is most likely to have legitimate Aboriginal Title and Treaty Rights claims.  In some cases they still occupy (but often do not own or control) traditional Metis lands.  In other cases they will be able to clearly demonstrate they have been unilaterally and illegitimately deprived of their traditional lands or Treaty rights and seek some form of just compensation for that loss.

Metis in Transition

This group is actually several sub-groups who have in common the fact they have separated from their ÏtraditionalÓ communitie..  It includes persons who, before 1982, would have called themselves non-status Indians simply because that was the only option they had to maintain a connection to their families and, in come cases to their home base.  Metis, at the time, was simply not a viable choice to achieve that goal. It also includes Metis who, in living memory, have lost contact with their original Metis communities, but who still express their Metis heritage as an essential part of their identity.  Many of these people could be described as urban Metis.  Then there is the ever-increasing numbers of people who are consciously recapturing or reclaiming their Metis heritage after one or more generations of assimilation into the general population.  These people are also largely, but not entirely, urban based.

The first group in this category are those most likely to have Treaty Rights and Indian Act based claims derived from unilateral exclusion from benefits they would otherwise have received.  The second group are unlikely to have land-based claims, but may well pursue compensation for their Ïmoral lossÓ in the form of assistance for Metis cultural development in their respective communities.

The New Metis

This group is made up of two sets of mixed blood people.  The first group are those mixed bloods who have no conscious connection with a specific current or historic Metis or Indian community, but who choose to express the fact of their mixed bloodby describing themselves as Metis.  The second subset of this group are those who are first-generation mixed bloods who find themselves experiencing the historic pattern of rejection by both Indian and White communities and are seeking to establish their identity as Metis.  In a sense both of these subsets are neo-colonial Metis.

This group is the least likely to be able to legitimately assert any kind of Aboriginal title or Treaty claims, although they may seek development of or access to government programs to enable them to practice and communicate their newly establish Metis identity.