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Current Reality and Even More Misunderstanding My contact with American
Métis over the last three years has forced me to realize that, however
similar the respective histories of Canadian and U.S. Métis might
be, the same cannot be said of the current day reality of Métis
in the two countries. As meagre as the 1982 constitutional recognition
of Métis in Canada has proven to be, the Métis situation
in the U.S. is --in terms of "official" recognition -- even more dauntingly
bleak.
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| I have been told over and over again that the general
population in the U.S. is totally unaware of even the concept of Métis.
As far as most people are concerned, there are Indians and there are non-Indians
and there is nothing recognized in between. There are two readily
identifiable factors that contribute to that situation.
The first is that those distinct Métis communities which did exist historically in the U.S. were overwhelmed by immig- rants much earlier and much more quickly than in Canada. The second is the effect of the"melting pot" mindset that suffuses American government policy and all but eliminated any potential for any polit- ically distinct Aboriginal communities other than enrolled Indians. A third element has to do with a much more pronounced
rejection on the part of the U.S. Indian population of the concept of Métis
as a legitimate mode of Aborig-
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inal or indigenous identity.
Attempts in recent years by descendants of historic U.S. Métis and
other mixed blood individuals and groups to establish their legitimacy
as Métis people have been bitterly opposed and attacked as "breaking
the sacred circle" or as just another manifestation of wannabeism.
Having recognized those very real differ- ences from the Canadian Métis siutation does not change the simple genetic fact that a Métis "gene pool" -- for want of a better phrase -- has for centuries and still does exist all over the United States. In terms of raw numbers (if not in percentage of the total population) the potential Métis in the U.S. outnumber that of Canada many times over. Unfortunately there are far fewer in the U.S. motivated to claim their Métis heritage. It is my hope that this U.S. section of the Other Métis will serve as a catalyst to generate that motivation. |
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US Métis Org. Links |
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