If there is one statement that I can make as a resultof my 30 years of research, study, and experience in the Metis -world inbetween- it is that there is very little anyone can say that will be truefor all Aboriginal peoples and at all times in North America -- and thatdefinitely applies to Metis.  The peoples, the cultures, the historicevents, and the political and social circumstances are so various and sodifferent that what may be true for the Metis peoples of the east willhave no application to peoples of the west and be different again for peoplesof the north and of the south. What might have been true in 1899 is nolonger true in 1999.

I make these points in the hopes of heading-off theendless wrangling that results from people saying things like ... 

-Well that can't be true because my grandfather toldme that his grandfather told him that this is the way it was in the Dakotasin the 1870s, and he should know.- 

Whatever he said probably was true for Metis in theDakotas in the 1870s, but that does not mean whatever he said is also truefor Metis everywhere and anytime else.  I am fond of saying that themost interesting things in life are those that contain within themselvesthe greatest number of contradictions.  From that point of view Metisissues are exceedingly interesting.

Metis isa Human Experience

I am hoping that this article can launch from the ideathat, fundamentally, being Metis is a human experience growing from a situationin which thousands, even millions, of mixed blood (Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal)people today find themselves living their day-to-day lives between twovery different sets of cultures and very different world views.

Metis is not just a term or label for an ethnic group,but -- first and foremost -- a human experience. While academics pontificate,analysts analyze, Aboriginal politicians rave, and governments posture,we have to remember that when we talk about Metis we are talking aboutreal, living, breathing people. As painfully obvious as that might seemto some, and especially so to other Metis, there is a strong tendency fornon-Metis peoples to think of the word as just a label or a category fora vague group of anonymous individuals. Even worse, some still use theterm to apply to a person or persons in a particular and fixed time orplace -- Red River Metis in the mid 1800Ìs, for example. 

The term Metis can legitimately be used in that wayfor academic and analytical purposes, of course, but to make that use ofthe term the primary application of the concept of Metis is to entirelymiss the reality of todayÌs living Metis peoples. It may be closerto the truth to think of Metis as a process or a verb , rather than a staticnoun.  In French the appropriate word is Métissage.  Iam not aware of a single word English translation. Exhaustive analysisof Métis terminology is available by following these links.) [Link1] [Link 2] [Link3] 

Metisare Indigenous People

In todayÌs context, and from my own point ofview, the first question that has to be settled before Metis issues andconcerns can be fully understood is:

Are Metis people(s) legitimate indigenous and/or Aboriginalpeoples in North America?

If your answer to that question is -I donÌtreally know- then I hope  you will find information and ideas on thesescreens that will assist your thinking in coming to a new understandingof Metis peoples and issues.

If your own answer to that question at the moment is-no- then draw your line in the sand my friend, because youÌve gota heavy debate on your hands. I intend to convince you otherwise. 

If your answer to that question is -yes- then we canmove on to discover what that means for Metis and their neighbors -- Aboriginaland non-Aboriginal -- in North America in the 21st century.

To begin with, there are a number of factors whichmake people uncomfortable about dealing with the whole idea of Metis. Inthe first place it is, fundamentally, a reality that begins with sex. Evenworse, for some, it is an reality involving inter-racial sex. And, to topit all off, it often begins with morally forbidden and, in the technicalsense, extra-marital sex.  That also, of course,  goes a longway in explaining the huge number of Metis people in North America today.

The relationships which produced mixed-blood childrenwere sometimes forbidden by employers and sometimes by tribal precept,and sometimes made illicit by churches and missionaries. All of which couldhave dire consequences for the financial well being and social standingof even consenting and loving participants. Needless to say, none of theabove restrictions succeeded in preventing sexual activity --loving andotherwise-- between immigrant Europeans and indigenous North Americans.But it did create a real problem for colonial administrators and, in manycases, a very difficult situation for the results of that sex -- the virtuallymillions of mixed blood children and their descendants who are living everywherein North America today.

Just to prove my earlier statement that nothing canbe said that is true for all Metis, there were, in different times andplaces, short-lived but deliberate colonial initiatives to encourage andreward marriages between Europeans and Indians. Dowries and bonuses wereoffered by both English and French (in different places and at differenttimes) In an attempt to consciously and literally create a new race, orto increase the number of furs brought to a specific fur company, or furtrader. Either way, the end result was the same -- numerous mixed bloodchildren who could no longer be hidden or explained away. 

It is the descendants of those children (among others)who call themselves Metis today.  There can be no question that, genetically,Metis are indigenous to North America.  There are certainly many,many cultural variations and sociological conditions both in time and place-- but that is equally true of Indian and, to a lesser extent, Inuit peopleas well. It as an historical fact that Metis/mixed-bloods were the firstpeople to be called Canadians <Note1>  and were even initially identifiedas being a distinct indigenous Canadian race.  <Note2>

On a personal note.  At one time I was led tobelieve I was Ïmostly whiteÓ because, as far as I then knew,I had only one Indian ancestor.  Even that is very unlikely, unlessthat ancestor was an Indian Eve of some kind.  I have since discoveredthat my mother may be the first white woman in my fatherÌs familyfor 300 years.  That side of my family is the result of Metis marryingMetis marrying Metis.  I am the descendant of a North American indigenousfamily into which a few Europeans married.  I suspect that is truefor thousands of Metis in Canada today who are not even aware of it.

Today, most Metis are descended from other Metis. It is now, and has been for two centuries, a self-sustaining indigenousNorth America population which no longer requires --although it frequentlystill gets-- input from either parent population, to survive.  Weare a Metis People, or more accurately, we are many Metis peoples.