View source for Métis

{{Short description|Mixed Indigenous ethnic group of Canada and the US}}
{{Other uses|Metis (disambiguation){{!}}Metis}}
{{Distinguish|Meitei people in Canada|Métis (Belgian Congo)}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Métis<br/>Michif
| native_name      = 
| native_name_lang = Michif
| image            = Métis Distribution in Canada, 2021 Census.jpg
| caption          = Population distribution of self-identified Métis Canadians by census division, 2021 census
| total            = '''624,220'''
| total_year       = [[2021 Canadian census|2021]]
| total_source     = 
| total_ref        = <ref name="Government of Canada-2022" />
| genealogy        = 
| ref1             = 
| region2          = {{flagicon|Canada}} Canada
| pop2             = 624,220
| ref2             = <ref name="Government of Canada-2022">{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=2022-09-21 |title=Indigenous identity by Registered or Treaty Indian status: Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations with parts |url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810026501 |access-date=2022-09-21 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca |archive-date=2022-09-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927021606/https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810026501 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| region3          = United States
| pop3             = Unknown
| ref3             = 
| languages        = [[Michif]], [[Cree language|Cree]], [[Métis French]], [[North American English]], [[Plains Indian Sign Language|Hand Talk]], [[Bungee language|Bungee]], other Indigenous languages
| philosophies     = 
| religions        = Predominantly Christianity ([[Roman Catholicism]] and [[Protestantism]])
| related_groups   = 
| footnotes        = 
}}
{{Infobox ethnonym
| root = Métis<br/><small>"person of mixed parentage"</small>
| people = Métis
| language = {{ubl
  | [[Michif]]
  | [[Métis French]]
  | [[Plains Indian Sign Language|Hand Talk]]}}
| country = Michif Piyii
}}

The '''Métis''' ({{IPAc-en|m|ɛ|ˈ|t|iː|(|s|)}} {{respell|meh|TEE(SS)}}; {{IPA|fr|metis|lang}}, {{IPA|fr-CA|label=[[Canadian French]]:|meˈt͡sɪs}},{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} {{IPA|crg|mɪˈt͡ʃɪf|lang|link=yes}}) are a mixed-race [[Indigenous people]] whose historical homelands include Canada's three [[Canadian Prairies|Prairie Provinces]] extending into parts of [[Quebec]], [[Ontario]], [[British Columbia]], the [[Northwest Territories]] and the [[northwest United States]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kermoal |first1=N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1yInEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA45 |title=Daniels v. Canada: In and Beyond the Courts |last2=Andersen |first2=C. |publisher=University of Manitoba Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-88755-931-0 |page=45 |quote=Its historic homeland includes large parts of what are now known as the Prairie provinces, extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States |access-date=Dec 3, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Métis Homeland |url=https://www.rupertsland.org/metis-homeland/ |access-date=2021-07-24 |publisher=Rupertsland Institute |quote=Métis villages sprang up along the riverways from the Great Lakes to the Mackenzie Delta. The [[Rupert's Land]] territory included all or parts of present-day Northwest-Nunavut Territory, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, and became known to the Métis as the "Métis Homeland."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Andersen |first=C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c5YiAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA108 |title=Métis: Race, Recognition, and the Struggle for Indigenous Peoplehood |publisher=UBC Press – Rupertsland Centre for Métis Research in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-7748-2723-2 |page=108 |quote=The MNC's narrative traces the geographical boundaries of what it terms the "Métis Homeland" to the historical waterways from northern Ontario to British Columbia and from the Northwest Territories to the northern United States.}}</ref><ref name="Metis Nation">{{Cite web |title=Métis National Council |url=https://www.metisnation.ca/about/about-us |access-date=2024-06-30 |website=www.metisnation.ca |language=en-ca |archive-date=2024-06-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240623214121/https://www.metisnation.ca/about/about-us |url-status=live }}</ref> They have a shared history and culture, deriving from specific mixed European (primarily French, Scottish, and English) and [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous]] ancestry (primarily Cree with strong kinship to Cree people and communities), which became distinct through [[ethnogenesis]] by the mid-18th century,<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Métis History |encyclopedia=Indigenous Saskatchewan Encyclopedia |publisher=University of Saskatchewan |url=https://teaching.usask.ca/indigenoussk/import/metis_history.php |access-date=18 October 2021 |last=Préfontaine |first=Darren R. |archive-date=18 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018155150/https://teaching.usask.ca/indigenoussk/import/metis_history.php |url-status=live }}</ref> during the early years of the [[North American fur trade]].<ref>{{harvnb|Rea|Scott|2017}}</ref>

In Canada, the Métis, with a population of 624,220 as of 2021,<ref name="Government of Canada-2022" /> are one of three legally recognized [[Indigenous peoples in Canada|Indigenous peoples]] in the ''[[Constitution Act, 1982]]'', along with the [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] and [[Inuit]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 October 2017 |title=Aboriginal peoples in Canada: Key results from the 2016 Census |url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/171025/dq171025a-eng.htm?indid=14430-1&indgeo=0 |publisher=StatCan |access-date=13 June 2019 |archive-date=2 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502045136/https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/171025/dq171025a-eng.htm?indid=14430-1&indgeo=0 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The term ''Métis'' (uppercase 'M') typically refers to the specific community of people defined as the '''[[Métis Nation—Saskatchewan|Métis Nation]]''', which originated largely in the [[Red River Valley]] and organized politically in the 19th century, radiating outwards from the [[Red River Colony|Red River Settlement]] (now [[Winnipeg]]). Descendants of this community are known as the '''Red River Métis'''.<ref name="Gaudry-2020">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2020 |title=Métis |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/metis |access-date=September 1, 2019 |orig-date=2009 |last2=Welch |first2=Mary Agnes |last3=Gallant |first3=David |first1=Adam |last1=Gaudry |archive-date=July 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706230151/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/metis |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="CBC-2018" /><ref name="Identity Forum" /> In 1870, the Métis [[Red River Rebellion#Provisional government|Provisional Government]] of [[Louis Riel]] negotiated the entry of the Red River Settlement into [[Canadian Confederation|Confederation]] as the [[Manitoba|Province of Manitoba]], making Manitoba the only province to be founded by an Indigenous person.<ref name="Metis Nation" />

[[Alberta]] is the only Canadian province with a recognized Métis land base: the eight [[Métis settlements]], with a population of approximately 5,000 people on {{convert|1.25|e6acre|km2|abbr=unit}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Métis Relations |url=https://www.alberta.ca/metis-relations.aspx |access-date=26 July 2020 |website=alberta.ca |publisher=Province of Alberta |archive-date=26 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726042153/https://www.alberta.ca/metis-relations.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> and the newer Metis lands near [[Fort McKay]], purchased from the Government of Alberta in 2017.<ref name="Global News">{{Cite web |title=Small northern Alberta community gets bigger with historic land purchase {{!}} Globalnews.ca |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/4111647/fort-mckay-metis-land-purchase-alberta/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=Global News |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Background==
===Etymology===
The word {{lang|fr|métis}} itself is originally French for 'person of mixed parentage' and derives from the Latin word {{Lang|la|mixticius}}, from {{Lang|la|mixtus}}, 'mixed'.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Metis |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/metis |access-date=18 October 2021 |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |archive-date=18 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018155148/https://www.etymonline.com/word/metis |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="OED" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Paul |first=Robert |url=https://archive.org/details/lepetitrobertvol0000robe/page/1192/mode/2up?q=metis |title=Le petit robert, vol. 1: dictionnaire alphabetique |date=1986 |publisher=Les Dictionnaires Robert-Canada |isbn=0-00-433514-7 |edition=1989 |page=1228 |access-date=19 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|O'Toole|2017|loc=p. 32 : "{{lang|fr|Selon le Petit Robert, une vieille acception de «&thinsp;métis&thinsp;» ... .}}"}}</ref> It is a [[cognate]] of the Spanish term {{lang|es|[[mestizo]]}}.

===Semantic definitions===
The definitions and usage of the terms "Métis", "Metis", and "métis" (lowercase) have at times been controversial and contentious; however, there are also legal definitions.<ref name="Gaudry-2020" />

Descendants of English or Scottish and Indigenous were in some cases also historically called "half-breeds" or "[[Anglo-Métis]]" or "countryborn". They sometimes adopted a more agrarian culture of subsistence farming and tended to be reared in [[Protestantism|Protestant]] denominations.<ref name="Foster-1978">E. Foster, "The Métis: The People and the Term" (1978) ''3 Prairie Forum'' 79, at 86–87.107</ref>

==== Lowercase 'm' ====
Starting in the 17th century, the French word {{lang|fr|métis}} was initially used as a noun by those in the [[North American fur trade]], and by settlers in general, to refer to people of mixed European and North-American Indigenous parentage in [[New France]] (which at that time extended from the [[The Maritimes|Maritime provinces]] through southern Quebec and the [[Great Lakes]] to the [[Mississippi River]], thence southward to [[Mississippi]] and [[Alabama]]). At the time, it applied generally to French-speaking people who were of partial Indigenous and partial ethnic French descent.<ref name="OED" /><ref name="Ortolang">{{Cite web |title=Métis: Etymologie de Métis |trans-title=Etymology of Métis |url=http://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/m%C3%A9tis |access-date=July 17, 2017 |website=Ortolang |publisher=Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales |language=fr |archive-date=October 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171013013702/http://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/m%C3%A9tis |url-status=live }}</ref> It also came to be used for people of mixed European and Indigenous backgrounds in other French colonies, generally the children of unions between French men and non-French women from the colonized areas,<ref name="OED">{{Cite OED|Métis|short=yes}}</ref><ref name="Ortolang" /> including [[Guadeloupe]] in the Caribbean;<ref>{{harvnb|James Alexander|2001|pages= [https://archive.org/details/motherimageryinn00alex/page/14 14–5]}}</ref> [[Senegal]] in West Africa;<ref>{{harvnb|Jones|2013|page= 296}}</ref> [[Algeria]] in North Africa;<ref>{{harvnb| Lorcin|2006|pages=210–211}}</ref> and the former [[French Indochina]] in Southeast Asia.<ref>{{harvnb|Robson|Yee|2005|pages=210–211}}</ref>

The first documented "{{lang|fr|métis}}" child was a girl born about 1628 near [[Lake Nipissing]], given the first name Marguerite, who was the daughter of a [[Nipissing First Nation|Nipissing]] woman and Jean Nicollet de Belleborne (born about 1598, likely in [[Cherbourg]], France).<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=1979 |title=Jean Nicollet de Belleborne |encyclopedia=Dictionary of Canadian Biography |publisher=University of Toronto / Université Laval |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/nicollet_de_belleborne_jean_1E.html |access-date=February 13, 2022 |orig-date=1966 |volume=1 |last2=Gagnon |first2=Jacques |first1=Jean |last1=Hamelin |archive-date=February 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220213163424/http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/nicollet_de_belleborne_jean_1E.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Madill|1983}}</ref>

Today, the spelling ''métis'' with a lowercase 'm' typically functions as an adjective. The definition of the word has at times been disputed, as some people have attempted to use lower-case ''métis'' in the archaic sense of having a single, distant Indigenous ancestor or being in some other way "mixed".<ref name="Gaudry-2020" />

==== Uppercase 'M' ====
As [[French Canadians]] followed the [[North American fur trade]] to the west, some of the settlers made unions with different [[Indigenous peoples in Canada|Indigenous]] women, including the [[Cree]].<ref name="Foster-1978" /> Over time, the Métis (uppercase 'M') emerged as a distinct Indigenous people during the late 18th century, with the term referring to a particular sociocultural heritage and an ethnic identification.<ref name="Metis Nation" /><ref name="Flanagan-1990" />

In this regard, the term ''Métis'' is more than a racial classification and refers to the Métis Nation, an Indigenous peoples in Canada and the United States who originated largely in the [[Red River Valley]] and organized politically in the 19th century, developing and dispersing outwards from the [[Red River Colony|Red River Settlement]] (now [[Winnipeg]]). Descendants of this community are therefore also often known as the Red River Métis.<ref name="Gaudry-2020" /><ref name="CBC-2018" /><ref name="Identity Forum" /><ref>{{harvnb|Bell|2013|loc=Page 4}}</ref>

Numerous spellings of ''Métis'' have been used interchangeably, including ''métif'', ''michif''; currently the most agreed-upon spelling is ''Métis''; however, some prefer to use ''Metis'' as inclusive of persons of both English and French descent.<ref name="Flanagan-1990">{{harvnb| Flanagan|1990|pages= 71–94}}</ref>

The majority of Indigenous groups and legal scholars define ''Métis'' as the people who originate from the historic homeland of the Métis Nation,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Teillet |first=Jean |date=September 13, 2019 |title=The confusing world of Métis identity |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-confusing-world-of-metis-identity/ |access-date=February 15, 2022 |work=Globe and Mail |location=Toronto |archive-date=February 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220216043248/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-confusing-world-of-metis-identity/ |url-status=live }}</ref> which encompasses the [[Canadian Prairies|Prairie Provinces]] of [[Manitoba]], [[Saskatchewan]], and [[Alberta]] and extends into contiguous parts of [[Ontario]], [[British Columbia]], the [[Northwest Territories]], and the northern [[United States]].<ref name="Metis Nation" />

The [[Métis National Council]], in 2002, defined ''Métis'' as: "a person who self-identifies as Métis, is distinct from other Aboriginal Peoples, is of historic Métis Nation ancestry and who is accepted by the Métis Nation."<ref name="Metis Nation" />

Canadian Geographic's ''[[Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada]]'' identifies Métis people as one of three Canadian Indigenous peoples in the following terms:<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Métis > Identity |encyclopedia=Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada |publisher=Canadian Geographic |url=https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/article/identity/ |access-date=March 13, 2022 |archive-date=October 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211023060203/https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/article/identity/ |url-status=live }}</ref><blockquote>Within non-Indigenous society, there are two competing ideas of what being Métis means. The first, when spelled with a lowercase "m" (métis), means individuals or people having mixed-race parents and ancestries, e.g., North American Indigenous and European/Euro-Canadian/Euro-American. It is a racial categorization. This is the oldest meaning of métis and is based on the French verb métisser [sic],<ref name="O'Toole-2017-32">{{harvnb|O'Toole|2017|loc=p. 32: "Pour éviter la confusion, on a tendance à parler de métissage ou de métissé plutôt que de « métis »."}}</ref> to mix races or ethnicities. The related noun for the act of race-mixing is métissage.<ref name="O'Toole-2017-32" /> The second meaning of being Métis, and the one that is embraced by the Métis Nation, relates to a self-defining people with a distinct history in a specific region (Western Canada's prairies) with some spillover into British Columbia, Ontario, North Dakota, Montana and Northwest Territories. In this case, the term Métis is spelled with an uppercase "M" and often, but does not always, contain an accent aigu (é).</blockquote>

The [[#Métis people in Canada|Métis of Canada]] and the [[#Métis people in the United States|Métis of the United States]] adopted parts of their Indigenous and European cultures while forming customs and traditions of their own, as well as developing a common language.<ref name="Stonge-2012">{{harvnb|St-Onge|Podruchny|Macdougall|2012}}</ref> Some argue that the [[ethnogenesis]] of the Métis began when the Métis organized politically at the [[Battle of Seven Oaks]] in 1816, while others argue that the ethnogenesis began prior to this battle, before fur traders [[Emigration|emigrated]] from the Great Lakes region to the [[Great Plains|Western plains]].<ref>{{harvnb|Andersen|2011|}}</ref>

===Other groups and individuals===
Scholars, Métis people, and First Nations elders and community leaders state that only the descendants of the Red River Métis should be constitutionally recognized as Métis people, as they developed a distinct culture as a people historically, and have continued to exist as a distinct culture and community over many generations.<ref>{{harvnb|Chartrand|Giokas|2002}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Chartrand|2002}}</ref><ref name="CBC-2018"/><ref name="Wright-2020"/><ref name="Identity Forum"/>

Objections to this stance have been made to the [[Métis National Council]] by both individuals and newly formed groups who do not meet the established citizenship criteria.<ref name="Wright-2020">{{Cite web |last=Wright |first=Teresa |date=2020-01-26 |title=Métis leaders raise concerns about national council, call for reform |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/01/26/mtis-leaders-raise-concerns-about-national-council-call-for-reform.html |access-date=2022-11-20 |website=thestar.com |language=en |archive-date=2022-11-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221121004140/https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/01/26/mtis-leaders-raise-concerns-about-national-council-call-for-reform.html |url-status=live }}</ref> These individuals and unrecognized groups have recently emerged largely in the Maritime, Quebec, and Ontario regions, and are generally referred to as "'''Eastern Metis'''".<ref name="CBC-2018"/> Those objecting usually state that having a single, distant, Indigenous or possibly Indigenous ancestor should be enough to be considered Métis. They also disagree that they should have to meet the resident requirement as defined by the federally recognized Métis organizations.<ref name="CBC-2018"/><ref name="Leroux-2017">{{Cite web |last1=Leroux |first1=Darryl R. J. |last2=Gaudry |first2=Adam |date=October 25, 2017 |title=Becoming Indigenous: The rise of Eastern Métis in Canada |url=https://theconversation.com/becoming-indigenous-the-rise-of-eastern-metis-in-canada-80794 |access-date=November 20, 2022 |website=[[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]] |archive-date=November 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221105193529/https://theconversation.com/becoming-indigenous-the-rise-of-eastern-metis-in-canada-80794 |url-status=live }}</ref>
{{blockquote|Since the early 2000s, there has been a meteoric rise in the number of people self-identifying as Métis in Eastern Canada. New census data shows the highest increases in self-reported "Métis" people between 2006 and 2016 were in Québec (149.2 per cent) and in Nova Scotia (124.3 per cent). In Canada during the same period, the increase was less than 60 per cent. Rather than a spike in birth rates, almost all of the increase is due to white Franco-Québécois and Acadian settlers "becoming" Indigenous.<ref name="Leroux-2017"/>}}

[[David Chartrand]], president of the [[Manitoba Métis Federation]], responding in 2020, said he does not believe these new, self-identified individuals and communities are Métis:
{{blockquote|They are not part of us, never were. There is no connection historically in any way or fashion that they can use as even an argument to say that they are part of our nation.<ref name="Wright-2020"/>}}

In a 2016 decision, ''[[Daniels v Canada (Indian Affairs and Northern Development)]]'', the Supreme Court of Canada stated in par. 17:<ref>[https://canlii.ca/t/gpfth> Daniels v. Canada (Indian Affairs and Northern Development), 2016 SCC 12 (CanLII), {2016} 1 SCR 99], par. 17, retrieved on 2022-03-17.;</ref>
{{blockquote|There is no consensus on who is considered Métis or a non-status Indian, nor need there be. Cultural and ethnic labels do not lend themselves to neat boundaries. 'Métis' can refer to the historic Métis community in Manitoba's Red River Settlement or it can be used as a general term for anyone with mixed European and Aboriginal heritage. Some mixed-ancestry communities identify as Métis, others as Indian.}}

Indigenous elders from the [[Miꞌkmaq]] and other [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] communities in the Eastern part of Canada, along with recognized Métis leaders, do not agree with this perspective. They say that there is no distinct Metis community or culture in the Maritimes or Quebec, and that these newly formed, "Eastern Metis" groups are not legitimate:<ref name="Identity Forum"/><ref name="CBC-2018">{{Cite web |date=May 27, 2018 |title=The controversial rise of the eastern Metis: 'Where were these people all this time?' |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/the-controversial-rise-of-the-eastern-metis-where-were-these-people-all-this-time-1.4680105 |access-date=Aug 25, 2022 |website=cbc.ca |language=en |archive-date=August 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220816033204/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/the-controversial-rise-of-the-eastern-metis-where-were-these-people-all-this-time-1.4680105 |url-status=live }}</ref>
<blockquote>People of mixed blood in the region either integrated into Indigenous communities or assimilated with European newcomers, unlike the distinct Metis People of [[Louis Riel]] in Western Canada.
<blockquote>"When you're looking at the Maritimes and Quebec, the children of intermarriage were accepted by either party, in our case the Mi'kmaq or the Acadian," Mi'kmaw elder and historian [[Daniel N. Paul|Daniel Paul]] says. "There was no such thing as a Metis community here in this region."<ref name="CBC-2018"/></blockquote></blockquote>

===Riel's Métis===
Quoting Louis Riel from Tremaudan's ''Histoire de la nation métisse dans l'ouest canadien'':<ref>{{harvnb| Tremaudan|1936a|loc= Excerpted from Appendice, Dernier Mémoire de Louis Riel, Les Métis du Nord-Ouest, p. 434-435.}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Tremaudan|1936b}}</ref>

{{Quote box
 |quote =
The Métis have as paternal ancestors the former employees of the Hudson's Bay and North-West Companies, and as maternal ancestors Indian women belonging to various tribes.

The French word ''Métis'' is derived from the Latin participle ''mixtus'', which means "mixed"; it expresses well the idea it represents.

Quite appropriate also, was the corresponding English term "Half-Breed" in the first generation of blood mixing, but now that European blood and Indian blood are mingled to varying degrees, it is no longer generally applicable.

The French word Métis expresses the idea of this mixture in as satisfactory a way as possible, and becomes by that fact, a proper race name suitable for our race.

A little observation in passing without offending anyone.

Very polite and amiable people, may sometimes say to a Métis, "You don't look at all like a Métis. You surely can't have much Indian blood. Why, you could pass anywhere for pure White."

The Métis, a trifle disconcerted by the tone of these remarks, would like to lay claim to both sides of his origin. But fear of upsetting or totally dispelling these kind assumptions holds him back. While he is hesitating to choose among the different replies that come to mind, words like these succeed in silencing him completely. "Ah! bah! You have scarcely any Indian blood. You haven't enough worth mentioning." Here is how the Métis think privately.

"It is true that our Indian origin is humble, but it is indeed just that we honour our mothers as well as our fathers. Why should we be so preoccupied with what degree of mingling we have of European and Indian blood? No matter how little we have of one or the other, do not both gratitude and filial love require us to make a point of saying, 'We are Métis."
 |align = center}}

==Métis people in Canada==
[[File:Battle of Batoche Print by Seargent Grundy.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Contemporary [[lithograph]] of the [[Battle of Batoche]]]]
Métis people in Canada are specific cultural communities who trace their descent to [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] and [[European Canadians|European settlers]],<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lehnebach |first1=Carlos A. |url=https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q124332398 |title=Flora: Celebrating our Botanical World |last2=Regnault |first2=Claire |last3=Rice |first3=Rebecca |last4=Awa |first4=Isaac Te |last5=Yates |first5=Rachel A. |date=2023-11-01 |publisher=Te Papa Press |isbn=978-1-9911509-1-2 |page=65 |language=English |archive-date=2024-11-27 |access-date=2024-05-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241127073206/https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q124332398 |url-status=live }}</ref> primarily the French, in the early decades of the colonization of Canada. Métis peoples are recognized as one of [[Indigenous peoples in Canada|Canada's Indigenous peoples]] under the [[Constitution Act of 1982|''Constitution Act'' of 1982]], along with First Nations and [[Inuit]]. On April 8, 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada ''[[Daniels v Canada]]'' appeal held that "Métis and [[Non-status Indian|non status Indians]] are 'Indians' under s. 91(24)," but excluded the [[R v Powley|Powley test]] as the only criterion to determine Metis identity.<ref name="Malette-2018" />

Canadian Métis represent the majority of people who identify as Métis, although there are a number of [[#Métis people in the United States|Métis in the United States]]. In Canada, the population is 587,545 with 20.5 percent living in Ontario and 19.5 percent in Alberta.<!---<ref>Morin, Brandi (10 March 2020). "The Back Streeters and the White Boys: Racism in rural Canada". [https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/streeters-white-boys-racism-rural-canada-200301074007683.html Al Jazeera website] Retrieved 17 March 2020.</ref> There is no relation whatsoever to this sentence and the Brandi Morin / Al Jazeera article ---> The [[Acadians]] of eastern Canada, some of whom have mixed [[Aquitaine|French]] and [[Wabanaki Confederacy|Indigenous]] origins,<ref>{{harvnb|Pritchard|Pritchard|Pritchard|2004||loc=Page 36: Abbé Pierre Maillard claimed that racial intermixing had proceeded so far by 1753 that in fifty years it would be impossible to distinguish Amerindian from French in Acadia.}}</ref><!--- <ref name="francogene1" /><ref name="francogene1">{{Cite web |title=Métis |url=http://www.francogene.com/gfan/gfan/998/metis.htm |access-date=2021-08-25 |website=www.francogene.com}}</ref> Not a reliable source ---> are not Métis according to [[Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada]] and other historic Indigenous communities. This viewpoint sees Métis as historically the children of French fur traders and [[Nehiyaw]] women of western and west central Canada.<!--- <ref name="francogene1" /> Not a reliable source ---><ref name="Malette-2018">{{Cite web |last=Malette |first=Sébastien |date=2018-04-19 |title=Who are the Métis? |url=https://sebastienmalette.ca/metis/ |access-date=2021-08-25 |website=sebastienmalette.ca |language=en |archive-date=2021-08-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210825180147/https://sebastienmalette.ca/metis/ |url-status=live }}</ref><!---<ref>{{Cite web |title=Marché B {{!}} Micro-B {{!}} Marco Wingender |url=https://marcheb.ca/micro-b-marco-wingender/ |access-date=2021-08-25 |language=fr-CA}}</ref> Not a reliable source --->

While the Métis initially developed as the [[multiracial people|mixed-race]] descendants of early unions between First Nations and colonial-era European settlers (usually Indigenous women and male French settlers), within generations (particularly in central and western Canada), a distinct [[#Cultural definitions|Métis culture]] developed. The women in the unions in eastern Canada were usually [[Algonquin people|Algonquin]] and [[Ojibwe]], and in western Canada they were [[Saulteaux]], [[Cree]], Ojibwe, [[Nakoda people|Nakoda]], and [[Dakota people|Dakota]]/[[Lakota people|Lakota]] or of mixed descent from these peoples. Their unions with European men engaged in the fur trade in the Old Northwest were often of the type known as [[Marriage 'à la façon du pays'|marriage ''à la façon du pays'']] ("according to the custom of the country").<ref name="Barkwell-2001">{{harvnb|Barkwell|Dorion|Préfontaine|2001}}</ref>

After [[New France]] was ceded to Great Britain's control in 1763, there was an important distinction between ''French Métis'' born of [[francophone]] ''[[Voyageurs|voyageur]]'' fathers and the ''[[Anglo-Métis]]'' (known as "country born" or Mixed Bloods, for instance in the 1870 census of [[Manitoba]]) descended from English or Scottish fathers.<ref>{{harvnb|Madill|1983|loc=p. 20, unpublished consulting report: '... Carolyn Harrington analyzes in detail the historical development of mixed bloods in middle-northern Ontario from 1623 in "Development of a Half-Breed Community in the Upper Great Lakes" '.}}</ref> Today these two cultures have essentially coalesced into location-specific Métis traditions. This does not preclude a range of other Métis cultural expressions across North America.<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 October 2014 |title=What to Search: Topics – Genealogy and Family History – Library and Archives Canada |url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogie/022-905.004-e.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006095911/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogie/022-905.004-e.html |archive-date=6 October 2014 |access-date=November 15, 2018}}</ref><ref>Rinella, Steven. 2008. ''American Buffalo: In Search of A Lost Icon.'' NY: Spiegel and Grau.</ref> Such polyethnic people were historically referred to by other terms, many of which are now considered to be offensive, such as [[Mixed-blood]]s, [[Half-breed]]s, [[Bois-Brûlés]], [[Bungi creole|Bungi]], Black Scots and Jackatars,<ref>{{harvnb|McNab |Lischke |2005}}</ref> the latter term having meaning in a Newfoundland context.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195415599.001.0001/acref-9780195415599-e-814?rskey=7VNALJ&result=814 |title=The term jackatar |date=January 2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-541559-9 |language=en |chapter=Jackatars |access-date=2022-03-15 |archive-date=2022-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316015131/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195415599.001.0001/acref-9780195415599-e-814?rskey=7VNALJ&result=814 |url-status=live }}</ref>

While people of Métis culture or heritage are found across Canada, the traditional Métis "[[homeland]]" (areas where Métis populations and culture developed as a distinct ethnicity historically) includes much of the present-day [[Canadian Prairies]] along with parts of Northwestern Ontario, British Columbia, and the Northwest-Nunavut Territory.<ref name="Identity Forum"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Métis Homeland |url=https://www.rupertsland.org/metis-homeland/ |access-date=2022-01-17 |publisher=Rupertsland Institute |archive-date=2021-12-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211202132129/https://www.rupertsland.org/metis-homeland/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The most well-known group are the "Red River Métis", centering on southern and central parts of [[Manitoba]] along the [[Red River of the North]].

Closely related are the [[#Métis people in the United States|Métis in the United States]], primarily those in border areas such as [[Northern Michigan]], the [[Red River Valley]] and [[Eastern Montana]]. These were areas in which there was considerable Aboriginal and European mixing due to [[North American fur trade|the 19th-century fur trade]]. However, they do not have a federally recognized status in the United States, except as enrolled members of federally recognized tribes.<ref>Howard, James H. 1965. "The Plains-Ojibwa or Bungi: hunters and warriors of the Northern Prairies with special reference to the Turtle Mountain band"; ''University of South Dakota Museum Anthropology Papers'' 1 (Lincoln, Nebraska: J. and L. Reprint Co., Reprints in ''Anthropology'' 7, 1977).</ref> Although Métis existed farther west than today's Manitoba, much less is known about the Métis of Northern Canada.

===Identity===

====Self-identity and legal status====
In 2016, 587,545 people in Canada self-identified as Métis. They represented 35.1% of the total Aboriginal population and 1.5% of the total Canadian population.<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 October 2017 |title=Aboriginal identity population, Canada, 2016 |url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/171025/t001a-eng.htm |access-date=November 15, 2018 |publisher=StatCan |archive-date=11 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220411214635/https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/171025/t001a-eng.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Most Métis people today are descendants of unions between generations of Métis individuals and live in urban areas. The exception are the Métis in rural and northern parts that exist in close proximity to First Nations communities.

Over the past century, countless Métis have assimilated into the general [[European Canadian]] populations. Métis heritage (and thereby Aboriginal ancestry) is more common than is generally realized.<ref name=Barkwell-2001/> People with more distant ancestry, who assimilated into non-Métis society, are not part of the Métis ethnicity or culture.<ref name="Cecco-2021">{{Cite web |last=Cecco |first=Leland |date=24 Oct 2021 |title='We know who we are': Inuit row raises questions over identity and ancestry |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/24/canada-inuit-nunatukavut |access-date=14 April 2022 |website=The Guardian |quote=Also at issue is the growing number of people identifying as Métis, and trace their ancestry to both Indigenous people and European settlers in the Prairie region. Some such groups have faced allegations they are appropriating Indigenous identity. Critics of the NunatuKavut point out that in 2010, it changed its name from the Labrador Métis Council. NunatuKavut, which has been an organization since the 1980s, says the term Métis was used for a lineage of both Indigenous and settler ancestry – but that Inuit now better reflects their membership. Others remain skeptical. "What we're seeing is the phenomenon of non-Indigenous people, or those with a very distant ancestry – from the 1600 and 1700s – now claiming that they now have political rights which prevail over those Indigenous nations," said Veldon Coburn, a professor in Indigenous studies at the University of Ottawa and member of the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Gaudry |first=Adam |date=June 21, 2016 |title=Métis Are a People, Not a Historical Process |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/metis-are-a-people-not-a-historical-process |access-date=14 April 2022 |website=The Canadian Encyclopedia |publisher=Historica Canada |quote=This means that beyond self-identification and ancestry, being claimed by the Métis Nation is integral to being Métis, as it is with any other Indigenous people. |archive-date=22 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220422130128/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/metis-are-a-people-not-a-historical-process |url-status=live }}</ref>
{{blockquote|"What we're seeing is the phenomenon of non-Indigenous people, or those with a very distant ancestry – from the 1600 and 1700s – now claiming that they now have political rights which prevail over those Indigenous nations," said Veldon Coburn, a professor in Indigenous studies at the [[University of Ottawa]] and member of the [[Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn]].<ref name="Cecco-2021"/>}}

Unlike among [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] peoples, laws concerning the Métis make no distinction between Treaty status and non-Treaty status. The Métis did not sign treaties with Canada, with the exception of an adhesion to [[Treaty 3]] in Northwest Ontario. This adherence was never implemented by the federal government. The legal definition is not yet fully developed. Section Thirty-five of the ''Constitution Act, 1982'' recognizes the rights of Indian, Métis and Inuit; however, that text does not define these groups.<ref name=Barkwell-2001/> In 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada defined a Métis person as someone who self-identifies as Métis, has an ancestral connection to the historic Métis community, and is accepted by the modern community with continuity to the historic Métis community.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lambrecht |first=Kirk N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G1NnSkcjuhsC&pg=PA31 |title=Aboriginal Consultation, Environmental Assessment, and Regulatory Review in Canada |publisher=University of Regina Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-88977-298-4 |page=31}}</ref>

====View of identity====
The most well-known and historically documented mixed-ancestry population in Canadian history are the groups who developed during the fur trade in south-eastern [[Rupert's Land]], primarily in the [[Red River Settlement]] (now Manitoba) and the [[Southbranch Settlement]]s (Saskatchewan). In the late 19th century, they organized politically (led by men who had European educations) and had confrontations with the Canadian government in an effort to assert their independence.

This was not the only place where some degree of intermixing (''métisser)''<ref name="O'Toole-2017-32" /> between European and Indigenous people occurred. It was part of the history of colonization from the earliest days of settlements on the Atlantic Coast throughout the Americas.<ref name="Canada Parliament Senate-2013">{{Cite book |url=https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2013/sen/yc28-0/YC28-0-411-12-eng.pdf |title=The People Who Own Themselves, Recognition of Métis Identity in Canada |date=June 2013 |publisher=Canada. Parliament. Senate. |edition=10th |chapter=Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples, 41st Parliament, 1st Session |access-date=7 February 2014 |archive-date=15 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141115004234/http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2013/sen/yc28-0/YC28-0-411-12-eng.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|2, 5}} But the strong sense of ethnic [[national identity]] among the mostly French- and [[Michif]]-speaking Métis along the [[Red River of the North|Red River]], demonstrated during armed resistance movements led by [[Louis Riel]], resulted in a specific use of the term "Métis" throughout Canada.

Continued organizing and political activity resulted in "the Métis" gaining official recognition from the national government as one of the recognized Aboriginal groups in [[Section Thirty-five of the Constitution Act, 1982|S.35 of the ''Constitution Act, 1982'']], which states:<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 August 2020 |title=Part II: Rights of the Aboriginal People of Canada |url=https://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/Const/page-13.html#h-53 |access-date=13 April 2022 |website=The Constitution Acts, 1867 to 1982 |publisher=Canadian Department of Justice |archive-date=5 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205085843/https://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-13.html#h-53 |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{blockquote
|35. (1) The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the Aboriginal People of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed.

:(2) In this Act, "Aboriginal Peoples of Canada" includes the Indian, Inuit, and Métis Peoples of Canada.
|''Constitution Act, 1982''
}}

Section 35(2) does not define criteria for an individual who is Métis. This has left open the question of whether "Métis" in this context should apply only to the descendants of the Red River Métis or to all mixed-ancestry groups and individuals. Many members of First Nations may have mixed ancestry but identify primarily by the tribal nation, rather than as Métis.

====Lack of a legal definition====
{{Further|R. v. Powley}}
In contrast to the ''[[Indian Act]]'', which creates an [[Indian Register]] for all (Status) First Nations people, [[Settler colonialism|settler-colonial]] definitions of Métis, Metis and metis have at times been at odds with the definitions of the communities themselves.<ref name="CBC-2018"/> Some commentators have argued that one of the [[Indigenous rights|rights of an Indigenous people]] is to define their own identity, precluding the need for a government-sanctioned definition.<ref name="Canada Parliament Senate-2013" />{{rp|9–10}}

Alberta is the only province to have defined the term in law under the ''Métis Settlements Act'' (MSA), which defines a Métis as "a person of Aboriginal ancestry who identifies with Métis history and culture". This was done in the context of creating a test for legal eligibility for membership in one of Alberta's eight Métis settlements. The MSA, together with requirements at the community level (Elder & community acceptance) create the legal requirements for residency on the Métis Settlements. In Alberta law, belonging to a "Métis Association" (Métis National Council or any of its affiliates, Métis Federation of Canada, Congress of Aboriginal People) does not grant one the rights granted to members of the Alberta Métis Settlements. The MSA test excludes those people who are Status Indians (that is, a member of a First Nation), an exclusion which was upheld by the Supreme Court in ''Alberta v. Cunningham'' (2011).<ref name="Canada Parliament Senate-2013" />{{rp|10–11}}

The number of people self-identifying as Métis has risen sharply since the late 20th century: between 1996 and 2006, the population of Canadians who self-identify as Métis nearly doubled, to approximately 390,000.<ref name="Canada Parliament Senate-2013" />{{rp|2}} From 2006 to 2016, according to census results from Statistics Canada, those numbers rose by 125% in Nova Scotia, and 150% in Quebec. Also in that time, "Dozens" of new "Metis" organizations appeared, none of whom could demonstrate any ties to continually existing Métis communities.<ref name="CBC-2018"/>

Until ''[[R v. Powley]]'' (2003), there was no legal definition of Métis other than the legal requirements found in the ''Métis Settlements Act'' of 1990. The Powley case involved a claim by Steven Powley and his son Rodney, two members of the [[Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario]] Métis community who were asserting Métis hunting rights. The [[Supreme Court of Canada]] outlined three broad factors to identify Métis who have Hunting Rights as Aboriginal peoples:<ref>[https://canlii.ca/t/51pd R. v. Powley, 2003 SCC 43 (CanLII), {2003} 2 SCR 207], retrieved on 2022-03-17</ref>

{{Blockquote|
* self-identification as a Métis individual;
* ancestral connection to an historic Métis community; and
* acceptance by a Métis community.
}}

All three factors must be present for an individual to qualify under the SCC Powley Test, for members of the Métis National Council. The SCC never provided a definition of Métis. The Powley case did not adudicate all Indigenous inherent rights; analogous rights; or historical Treaty rights. The SCC did state that
{{blockquote|[t]he term Métis in s. 35 does not encompass all individuals with mixed Indian and European heritage; rather, it refers to distinctive peoples who, in addition to their mixed ancestry, developed their own customs, ways of life, and recognizable group identity separate from their Indian or Inuit and European forebears.<ref name="Canada Parliament Senate-2013" />{{rp|9}} The court was explicit that its ten-point test is not a comprehensive definition of Métis.}}

The primary reason that mixed ancestry individuals are not defined as Métis, is that individuals have the choice to self-identify. If an individual chooses not to self-identify, they will not be included as Métis. Historically, the Crown destroyed documentation in New France which would confirm community. Métis peoples travelled west to avoid slavery, war, genocide, etc. Métis peoples also denied being Indigenous. The British Crown had no authority beyond New France & so, by the 19th century, western Indigenous Nations' history was being documented instead of exclusively being relied upon verbally. The emergeance of the western Métis is different than those of the east. 

Debates as to whether Métis have [[treaty rights]]; is an issue created by First Nations. It has been improperly stated that "only First Nations could legitimately sign treaties with the Canadian government so, by definition, Métis have no Treaty rights."<ref name="McNab">{{harvnb|McNab|Lischke|2007}}</ref> However, the term "First Nations" is a recent descriptor created after the Canada Constitution Act 1982. The historic term used by the Crown in 1850, was "Indian". One historic treaty names Métis in the title: the Halfbreed (Métis in the French version) Adhesion to [[Treaty 3]]. Another, the [[Robinson Superior Treaty]] of 1850, listed 84 persons classified as "half-breeds" in the Treaty, so included them and their descendants.<ref>Morris, Alexander.''[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7126/7126-h/7126-h.htm The Treaties of Canada with the Indians of Manitoba and the North West Territories Including the Negotiations on which They Were ...] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316005149/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7126/7126-h/7126-h.htm |date=2022-03-16 }}'' Belfords, Clarke & Co., 1880</ref> 

The present Indian Act remains silent regarding Métis issues. If prior ammendments to the Indian Act included Métis, the sections have since been repealed and would be of no force; as they would be irrelevant. Métis Chief Mius signed the annexed Hopson Treaty 1752. This Treaty has been the subject in  SCC R. vs. Simon (1985); and R. vs. Marshall ( 1999). In both cases, the SCC confirmed that the Hopson Treaty 1752 is valid and binding. In the 1850 / 1 Upper & Lower Indigenous land laws created by the British Crown, the term "Indian" included all mixed race Indigenous peoples & their Kin. The discriminatory Indian Act 1876 thereafter split the people & their Kin, as a way to assimilate and cause genocide, which is improper.

In 2016, the SCC further provided guidance in R. Daniels, by stating that Métis exist in all of Canada. The Métis National Council ( which included MNBC, MNA, MN-S, MMF, & MNO at that time) was declared  to be non-exclusive by the SCC. "The Métis of the East & North are different from the western Métis". SCC also recognized that Métis have existed in New France (LeHave, Lower Canada ) since at least 1650. April 2016, (one month after the Daniels Decision), the Canadian Crown accepted the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Peoples. The Crown thereafter created the UNDRIP Act which received Royal Assent in June 2021. This UNDRIP Act enumerates 46 minimum Indigenous rights for any Indigenous individual or Nation. Included in these rights are self-identity & self-governance. It is improper for the western Métis to assert their own definitions, identity & culture against competing Métis Nations. The Canada Constitution Act provides freedom to associate; & freedom to move. Contrary to the western Métis propaganda, nomadic Métis do not lose their rights in modern Canada if they move, or are nomadic. 

June 2024, the former Labrador Métis Métis Nation ( now named Nunatukavut) appeared at Federal Court, as a result of the MMF & Inuit Nations attempting to set aside an agreement between Canada & Nunatukavut. The Court set aside the improper Application against Nunatukavut. Thus, contrary to the propaganda of the Red River Métis Nation & Métis National Council, Métis do in fact exist in eastern Canada. 

At the time of this writing, the Senate of Canada is debating Bill S-2, to eliminate all discrimination contained in the Indian Act.

====Definitions used by Métis representative organizations====
Two main advocacy groups claim to speak for the Métis in Canada: the [[Congress of Aboriginal Peoples]] (CAP) and the [[Métis National Council]] (MNC). Each uses different approaches to define Métis individuals. The CAP, which has nine regional affiliates, represents all Indigenous peoples in Canada who are living off-reserve, including Métis and [[non-Status Indians]]. It does not provide a definition of "Métis", but instead leaves each affiliate determine its own membership criteria.

Due to the exclusion of a Métis representative among the Native Council of Canada's two seats at the Constitutional Conference in 1983, the [[Manitoba Métis Federation]] (MMF), the Association of Métis and Non-Status Indians of Saskatchewan (AMNSIS) and the Métis Association of Alberta (MAA) withdrew from the NCC (CAP's predecessor) and formed the [[Métis National Council]]. Its political leadership of the time stated that the NCC's "pan-Aboriginal approach to issues did not allow the Métis Nation to effectively represent itself".<ref name="Canada Parliament Senate-2013" />{{rp|11}} The MNC views the Métis as a single nation with a common history and culture centred on the fur trade of "west-central North America" in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In their Court Intervening submissions, the MNC admitted that it could only present the claims of its memebers. Each competing Nation can and does, have different Constitutions. 

In 2003, MNC had five provincial affiliates:

* [[Métis Nation of Ontario]]
* [[Manitoba Métis Federation]]
* [[Métis Nation—Saskatchewan]]
* [[Métis Nation of Alberta]] (formerly the Métis Association of Alberta)
* [[Métis Nation of British Columbia]]

The MNA adopted the following "Definition of Métis":
{{blockquote|Métis means a person who self-identifies as a Métis, is distinct from other aboriginal peoples, is of historic Métis Nation ancestry, and is accepted by the Métis Nation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Métis, History |url=https://albertametis.com/metis-in-alberta/history |website=albertametis.com |publisher=The Métis Nation of Alberta |access-date=2022-03-18 |archive-date=2022-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125013514/https://albertametis.com/metis-in-alberta/history/ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

Several local, independent Métis organizations have been founded in Canada. In Northern Canada neither the CAP nor the MNC have affiliates; here local Métis organizations deal directly with the federal government and are part of the [[Aboriginal land claims]] process. Three of the [[Aboriginal self-government|comprehensive settlements]] (modern treaties) in force in the Northwest Territories include benefits for Métis people who can prove local Aboriginal ancestry prior to 1921 ([[Treaty 11]]).<ref name="Canada Parliament Senate-2013" />{{rp|13}}

The federal government recognizes the Métis National Council as the representative Métis group.<ref name="Galloway">{{Cite news |last=Galloway |first=Gloria |title=Trudeau pledges annual meetings with Indigenous leaders to advance reconciliation |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/trudeau-details-work-on-new-relationship-with-canadas-aboriginal-peoples/article33333113/ |access-date=November 15, 2018 |work=The Globe and Mail |archive-date=April 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190429041556/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/trudeau-details-work-on-new-relationship-with-canadas-aboriginal-peoples/article33333113/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In December 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a commitment to the leaders of the [[Assembly of First Nations]], the [[Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami]], and the Métis National Council to have annual meetings. He also committed to two other initiatives aimed at heeding the Calls to Action of the [[Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada|Truth and Reconciliation Commission]] (TRC) which examined abuses at Indian Residential Schools.<ref name="Galloway" />

Indigenous Affairs Canada, the relevant federal ministry, deals with the MNC. On April 13, 2017, the two parties signed the Canada-Métis Nation Accord, with the goal of working with the Métis Nation, as represented by the Métis National Council, on a Nation to Nation basis.<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 April 2017 |title=Canada-Metis Nation Accord |url=https://pm.gc.ca/eng/canada-metis-nation-accord |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115221057/https://pm.gc.ca/eng/canada-metis-nation-accord |archive-date=November 15, 2018 |access-date=November 15, 2018}}</ref>  The Crown openly mandated to engage with MNC & MMF via distinctions. However, in several United Nations instruments binding the Federal Crown, all distinctions are discrimination. Thus the MNC & MMF have advanced their positons & obtained funding via discrimination. The UN instruments are tantamount to international Treaties. 

In response to the Powley decision, Métis organizations are issuing Métis Nation citizenship cards to their members. Several organizations are registered with the Canadian government to provide Métis cards.<ref>[http://www.aboriginalcanada.gc.ca/acp/site.nsf/eng/ao35055.html Aboriginal Canada Portal&nbsp;– Métis Card] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130205180313/http://www.aboriginalcanada.gc.ca/acp/site.nsf/eng/ao35055.html |date=2013-02-05 }}</ref> The criteria to receive a card and the rights associated with the card vary with each organization. For example, for membership in the MNA, an applicant must provide a documented genealogy and family tree dating to the mid-1800s, proving descent from one or more members of historic Métis groups.<ref>[http://www.albertametis.com/MNAHome/mna-membership.aspx "MNA membership"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106042852/http://www.albertametis.com/MNAHome/MNA-Membership.aspx |date=2013-11-06 }}, Métis Nation of Alberta Metis</ref>

The Métis Nation of Canada requires genealogy documentation proving Indigenous ancestry to at least one line of decent. Initial mixed ancestry is not limited to the 1850's. Each individual may have different identity & culture, since MNOC accepts applicants across Canada. MNOC also includes the same territories as claimed by MNC & MMF, so it is improper for these regional organizations to claim cultural appropriation; or identity theft.

====Cultural definitions====
Cultural definitions of Métis identity inform legal and political ones.

The 1996 Report of the [[Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples]] stated:
{{blockquote|'Métis' means a person who self-identifies as Métis, is distinct from other Aboriginal peoples, is of historic Métis Nation Ancestry and who is accepted by the Métis Nation.<ref name="Canada Parliament Senate-2013" />{{rp|12}} Many Canadians have mixed Aboriginal/non-Aboriginal ancestry, but that does not make them Métis or even Aboriginal … What distinguishes Métis people from everyone else is that they associate themselves with a culture that is distinctly Métis.<ref name="Canada Parliament Senate-2013" />{{rp|14}}}}

Traditional markers of Métis culture include use of Aboriginal-European languages, such as [[Michif]] (French-Cree-Dene) and [[Bungi Creole|Bungi]] (Cree-Ojibwa-English); distinctive clothing, such as the arrowed sash ([[ceinture flêchée]]); a rich repertoire of [[Métis fiddle|fiddle music, jigs and square dances]], and practising a traditional economy based on hunting, trapping, and gathering. However, these cultural markers do not exclude Métis that do not partake in them.<ref name="Canada Parliament Senate-2013" />{{rp|14–15}}

===Canadian history===
[[File:The Trapper's Bride.jpg|thumb|upright|''The Trapper's Bride'' by [[Alfred Jacob Miller]], 1837]]

During the height of the [[North American fur trade]] in [[New France]] from 1650 onward, many French and British fur traders married First Nations and Inuit women, mainly Cree, Ojibwa or Saulteaux located in the Great Lakes area and later into the north west.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ou6yDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA127 |title=Race and Ethnicity in America: From Pre-contact to the Present [4 volumes] |date=11 October 2019 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-4408-5097-4 |editor-last=Russell M. Lawson |pages=127– |oclc=1089256893 |editor-last2=Benjamin A. Lawson}}</ref> The majority of these fur traders were French and Scottish; the French majority were [[Catholic Church|Catholic]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=James Minahan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8jVig0ysnu8C&pg=PA241 |title=Ethnic Groups of the Americas: An Encyclopedia |date=2013 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-61069-163-5 |pages=241– |oclc=1026065993}}</ref> These marriages are commonly referred to as [[Marriage 'à la façon du pays'|marriage à la façon du pays]] or marriage according to the "custom of the country."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gerhard J. Ens |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DcV6CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA45 |title=From New Peoples to New Nations: Aspects of Metis History and Identity from the Eighteenth to the Twenty-first Centuries |last2=Joe Sawchuk |date=27 January 2016 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1-4426-2150-3 |pages=45–}}</ref> 
[[File:Mixed blood Fur trader 1870.jpg|thumb|upright|Métis fur trader, c. 1870]]
At first, the Hudson's Bay Company officially forbade these relationships. However, many Indigenous peoples actively encouraged them, because they drew fur traders into Indigenous kinship circles, creating social ties that supported the economic relationships developing between them and Europeans. When Indigenous women married European men, they introduced them to their people and their culture, taught them about the land and its resources, and worked alongside them. Indigenous women paddled and steered canoes, made moccasins out of moose skin, netted webbing for snowshoes, skinned animals and dried their meat for pemmican, split and dried fish, snared rabbits and partridges, and helped to manufacture birchbark canoes. Intermarriage made the fur trade more successful.<ref name="Van Kirk-1983">{{harvnb|Van Kirk|1983}}</ref>

The children of these marriages were often introduced to Catholicism, but grew up in primarily First Nations societies.<ref name="Van Kirk-1983"/> They were thought of as the familial bond between the Europeans and First Nations and Inuit of North America. As adults, the men often worked as fur-trade company interpreters, as well as fur trappers in their turn.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Belshaw |first=John Douglas |date=Apr 13, 2015 |title=8.8 Fur Trade Society and the Métis |url=https://opentextbc.ca/preconfederation/chapter/8-8-fur-trade-society-and-the-metis/ |access-date=Feb 14, 2023 |website=BCcampus Open Publishing – Open Textbooks Adapted and Created by BC Faculty}}</ref> Many of the first generations of Métis lived within the First Nations societies of their wives and children, but also started to marry Métis women.

By the early 19th century, marriage between European fur traders and First Nations or Inuit women started to decline as European fur traders began to marry Métis women instead, because Métis women were familiar with both white and Indigenous cultures, and could interpret.<ref name="Van Kirk-1983" />

According to historian Jacob A. Schooley, the Métis developed over at least two generations and within different economic classes. In the first stage, "servant" (employee) traders of the fur trade companies, known as wintering partners, would stay for the season with First Nations bands, and make a "country marriage" with a high-status native woman. This woman and her children would move to live in the vicinity of a trading fort or post, becoming "House Indians" (as they were called by the company men). House Indians eventually formed distinct bands. Children raised within these "House Indian" bands often became employees of the companies. (Foster cites the [[York boat]] captain Paulet Paul as an example). Eventually this second-generation group ended employment with the company and became commonly known as "freemen" traders and trappers. They lived with their families raising children in a distinct culture, accustomed to the fur-trade life, that valued free trading and the buffalo hunt in particular. He considered that the third generation, who were sometimes Métis on both sides, were the first true Métis. He suggests that in the [[Red River of the North|Red River]] region, many "House Indians" (and some non-"House" First Nations) were assimilated into Métis culture due to the Catholic church's strong presence in that region. In the [[Fort Edmonton]] region, however, many House Indians never adopted a Métis identity but continued to identify primarily as Cree, Saulteaux, Ojibwa, and Chipweyan descendants up until the early 20th century.<ref name="Foster-1985">{{Cite journal |last=Foster |first=John E. |year=1985 |title=Paulet Paul: Métis or "House Indian" Folk-Hero? |url=http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/09/pauletpaul.shtml |journal=Manitoba History |publisher=Manitoba Historical Society |volume=9 |pages=Spring |access-date=7 December 2012}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Binnema|Ens|Macleod|2001|pages=ix–xxii}}</ref>
The Métis played a vital role in the success of the western fur trade. They were skilled hunters and trappers, and were raised to appreciate both Aboriginal and European cultures.<ref name="Angelhair">{{Cite web |title=The Métis Nation |url=http://www.geocities.com/soHo/Atrium/4832/metis.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090801032048/http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Atrium/4832/metis.html |archive-date=2009-08-01 |website=Angelhair}}</ref> Métis understanding of both societies and customs helped bridge cultural gaps, resulting in better trading relationships.<ref name="Angelhair"/> The [[Hudson's Bay Company]] discouraged unions between their fur traders and First Nations and Inuit women, while the [[North West Company]] (the English-speaking Quebec-based fur trading company) supported such marriages. Trappers often married First Nations women too, and operated outside company structures.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Who are the Métis? |url=http://www.metisnation.ca/who/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100226021520/http://www.metisnation.ca/who/index.html |archive-date=2010-02-26 |website=Métis National Council}}</ref> The Métis peoples were respected as valuable employees of both fur trade companies, due to their skills as [[Coureur des bois|voyageurs]], bison hunters, and interpreters, and for their knowledge of the lands.

[[File:Wpdms ruperts land.jpg|thumb|Rupert's Land, showing location of [[York Factory]]]]

By the early 19th century, European immigrants, mainly Scottish farmers, along with Métis families from the Great Lakes region moved to the [[Red River Valley]] in present-day [[Manitoba]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Canada A Country by Consent: Manitoba Joins Confederation: The Métis |url=http://www.canadahistoryproject.ca/1870/1870-03-metis.html |website=www.canadahistoryproject.ca |access-date=2020-01-27 |archive-date=2020-02-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213203444/http://www.canadahistoryproject.ca/1870/1870-03-metis.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Ray|2016|pages=210–212}}</ref> The [[Hudson's Bay Company]], which now administered a monopoly over the territory then called [[Rupert's Land]], assigned plots of land to European settlers.<ref name="Riel">{{Cite web |title=Riel and the Métis people |url=http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/iru/library_publications/bibliographies/louis_riel-02-2008.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081122114930/http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/iru/library_publications/bibliographies/louis_riel-02-2008.pdf |archive-date=2008-11-22 |access-date=2009-10-03 |publisher=The Departments of Advanced Education and Literacy, Competitiveness, Training and Trade, and Education, Citizenship and Youth}}</ref> The allocation of Red River land caused conflict with those already living in the area, as well as with the [[North West Company]], whose trade routes had been cut in half. Many Métis were working as fur traders with both the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company. Others were working as free traders, or buffalo hunters supplying [[pemmican]] to the fur trade.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Peters |first1=E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xVxxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP32 |title=Rooster Town: The History of an Urban Métis Community, 1901–1961 |last2=Stock |first2=M. |last3=Werner |first3=A. |publisher=University of Manitoba Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-88755-566-4 |page=32 |access-date=Feb 14, 2023}}</ref> The buffalo were declining in number, and the Métis and First Nations had to go farther and further west to hunt them.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hogue |first=M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ov3PBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA124 |title=Metis and the Medicine Line: Creating a Border and Dividing a People |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-4696-2106-7 |series=The David J. Weber Series in the New Borderlands History |page=124 |access-date=Feb 14, 2023}}</ref> Profits from the fur trade were declining because of a reduction in European demand due to changing tastes, as well as the need for the Hudson's Bay Company to extend its reach farther from its main posts to get furs.

Most references to the Métis in the 19th century applied to the Plains Métis, but more particularly the Red River Métis.<ref name="Foster-1985" /> But, the Plains Métis tended to identify by occupational categories: [[Métis buffalo hunt|buffalo hunters]], pemmican and fur traders, and "tripmen" in the York boat [[fur brigade]]s among the men;<ref name="Foster-1985" /> the [[moccasin]] sewers and cooks among the women. The largest community in the Assiniboine-Red River district had a different lifestyle and culture from those Métis located in the [[Saskatchewan River|Saskatchewan]], Alberta, [[Athabasca River|Athabasca]], and [[Peace River (Canada)|Peace river]] valleys to the west.<ref name="Foster-1985" />

[[File:Métis and Red River carts.jpg|thumb|left|Métis drivers with [[Red River cart]]s, c. 1860]]

In 1869, two years after Canadian Confederacy, the [[Government of Canada]] exerted its power over the people living in Rupert's Land after it acquired the land in the mid-19th century from the Hudson's Bay Company.<ref>{{harvnb|Gillespie|2007}}</ref> The Métis and the Anglo-Métis (commonly known as ''Countryborn'', children of First Nations women and [[Orcadians|Orcadian]], other Scottish or English men),<ref>{{harvnb|Jackson|2007}}</ref> joined forces to stand up for their rights. They wanted to protect their traditional ways of life against an aggressive and distant [[English Canadian|Anglo-Canadian]] government and its local colonizing agents.<ref name="Riel" /> An 1870 census of Manitoba classified the population as follows: 11,963 total people. Of this number 558 were defined as Indians (First Nations). There were 5,757 Métis and 4,083 English-speaking Mixed Bloods. The remaining 1,565 people were of predominately European, Canadian or American background.<!---<ref>[[Métis in Canada|The Metis"]], Alberta Settlement, 2001</ref>--->

During this time the Canadian government signed treaties (known as the "[[Numbered Treaties]]") with various First Nations. These Nations ceded property rights to almost the entire western plains to the Government of Canada. In return for their ceding traditional lands, the Canadian government promised food, education, medical help, etc.<ref>{{Cite web |date=Aug 29, 2016 |title=Treaty 10 |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/treaty-10 |access-date=Feb 14, 2023 |website=The Canadian Encyclopedia}}</ref> While the Métis generally did not sign any treaty as a group, they were sometimes included, even listed as "half-breeds" in some records.<ref>{{Cite web |date=Jul 1, 2002 |title=Do the Metis fall within section 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867? / by Bradford W. Morse and John Giokas.: Z1-1991/1-41-170E-PDF – Canada.ca |url=https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.829999/publication.html |access-date=Feb 14, 2023 |website=Government of Canada Publications |archive-date=February 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214065354/https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.829999/publication.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the late 19th century, following the ''British North America Act'' (1867), [[Louis Riel]], a Métis who was formally educated, became a leader of the Métis in the Red River area. He denounced the Canadian government surveys on Métis lands in a speech delivered in late August 1869 in front of [[Saint Boniface Cathedral]].<ref name="Thomas-1982">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2016 |title=Riel, Louis (1844–85) |encyclopedia=Dictionary of Canadian Biography |publisher=University of Toronto / Université Laval |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/riel_louis_1844_85_11E.html |access-date=November 15, 2018 |last=Thomas |first=Lewis H. |orig-date=1982 |series=Vol. 11 (1881–1890) |archive-date=December 12, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171212055306/http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/riel_louis_1844_85_11E.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Métis became more fearful when the Canadian government appointed the notoriously [[Francophobia|anti-French]] [[William McDougall (politician, born 1822)|William McDougall]] as the [[List of lieutenant governors of the Northwest Territories|Lieutenant Governor of the Northwest Territories]] on September 28, 1869, in anticipation of a formal transfer of lands to take effect in December.<ref>{{Cite book |last=King |first=T. |author-link=Thomas King (novelist) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xTmgAMJqfc4C&pg=PT21 |title=The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America |publisher=Doubleday Canada |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-385-67405-8 |page=21 |access-date=Feb 14, 2023}}</ref>} On November 2, 1869, Louis Riel and 120 men seized Upper Fort Garry, the administrative headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company. This was the first overt act of Métis resistance.<ref name=Thomas-1982/> On March 4, 1870, the Provisional Government, led by Louis Riel, executed Thomas Scott after Scott was convicted of insubordination and treason.<ref name=Thomas-1982/> The elected Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/inr/resources/print,the-legislative-assembly-of-assiniboia.html |access-date=November 15, 2018 |publisher=Manitoba Government, Indigenous Reconciliation and Northern Relations |archive-date=October 14, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181014010142/https://www.gov.mb.ca/inr/resources/print,the-legislative-assembly-of-assiniboia.html |url-status=live }}</ref> subsequently sent three delegates to Ottawa to negotiate with the Canadian government. This resulted in the ''[[Manitoba Act]]'' and that province's entry into the [[Canadian Confederation]]. Due to the execution of Scott, Riel was charged with murder and fled to the United States in exile.<ref name="Riel" />
[[File:Warrant To Apprehend.jpg|thumb|300px|Copy of the "Warrant to Apprehend" Riel and [[Ambroise-Dydime Lépine|Lépine]], issued in [[Winnipeg]]]]

In March 1885, the Métis heard that a contingent of 500 [[North-West Mounted Police]] was heading west.<ref>{{harvnb|Weinstein|2007}}</ref> They organized and formed the [[Provisional Government of Saskatchewan]], with Pierre Parenteau as president and [[Gabriel Dumont (Métis leader)|Gabriel Dumont]] as adjutant-general. Riel took charge of a few hundred armed men. They suffered defeat by Canadian militia battalions and North West Mounted Police in a conflict known as the [[North-West Rebellion|North-West Resistance]], which occurred in northern Saskatchewan from March 26 to May 12, 1885.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1885 Northwest Resistance |url=https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/article/1885-northwest-resistance/ |access-date=10 September 2022 |website=Canadian Geographic |archive-date=30 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220830060401/https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/article/1885-northwest-resistance/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The North-West Resistance |url=http://saskarchives.com/collections/exhibits/cpr-telegraph-ledger/cpr-telegraph-ledger-north-west-resistance |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220905215357/http://saskarchives.com/collections/exhibits/cpr-telegraph-ledger/cpr-telegraph-ledger-north-west-resistance |archive-date=5 September 2022 |access-date=5 September 2022 |website=Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thistle |first=Jesse |date=2014 |title=The 1885 Northwest Resistance: Causes to the Conflict |url=http://hpsj.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/hpsj/article/download/39584/35870 |journal=HPS History and Political Science Journal |volume=3 |archive-date=2015-12-23 |access-date=2022-09-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223190653/http://hpsj.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/hpsj/article/download/39584/35870 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Teillet |first=Jean |title=The North-West Is Our Mother: The Story of Louis Riel's People, the Métis Nation |date=17 September 2019 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-1-4434-5014-0 |pages=576 pages}}</ref> Gabriel Dumont fled to the United States, while Riel, Poundmaker, and Big Bear surrendered. Big Bear and Poundmaker each were convicted <!-- what were the charges? -->and received a three-year sentence. On July 6, 1885, Riel was convicted of [[Treason#Canada|high treason]] and was [[Trial of Louis Riel|sentenced to hang]]. Riel appealed but he was executed on November 16, 1885.<ref name="Riel" />

===Culture===
====Language====
{{Further|Michif language|Bungi creole}}
A majority of the Métis once spoke, and many still speak, either [[Métis French]] or an Indigenous language such as [[Cree language|Cree]], [[Ojibwe language|Anishinaabemowin]], [[Chipewyan language|Denésoliné]], etc. A few in some regions spoke a [[mixed language]] called [[Michif language|Michif]] which is composed of Plains Cree verbs and French nouns. ''Michif'', ''Mechif'' or ''Métchif'' is a phonetic spelling of the Métis pronunciation of ''Métif'', a variant of ''Métis''.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Barkwell |first1=Lawrence J. |last2=Fleury |first2=Normand |year=2017 |title=Michif Language Resources: An Annotated Bibliography |url=https://www.metismuseum.ca/media/document.php/149145.149145.Michif-Language-Bibliography%20July%202017.pdf |publisher=Louis Riel Institute |location=Winnipeg |access-date=2022-03-15 |archive-date=2022-04-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421092448/https://www.metismuseum.ca/media/document.php/149145.149145.Michif-Language-Bibliography%20July%202017.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The Métis today predominantly speak Canadian English, with [[Canadian French]] a strong second language, as well as numerous Aboriginal tongues.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fast Facts on Métis |url=http://www.metisresourcecentre.mb.ca/fastfacts/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100110050545/http://www.metisresourcecentre.mb.ca/fastfacts/ |archive-date=2010-01-10 |access-date=2009-10-03 |website=Métis Culture & Heritage Resource Centre}}</ref>

Michif is most used in the United States, notably in the [[Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation]] of North Dakota. There Michif is the [[official language]] of the Métis who reside on this Ojibwe (Chippewa) reservation.<ref>{{harvnb|Bakker|1997|loc= Chapter 1 Introduction, The Problem of Michif, pp. 3–4 [https://books.google.com/books?id=qKOiQ3gw4akC&q=The+Michif+language+is+spoken+by+Metis%2C Online].}}</ref> After years of decline in use of these languages, the provincial Métis councils are encouraging their revival, use in communities and teaching in schools. The encouragement and use of Métis French and Michif is growing due to outreach after at least a generation of decline.<ref name="Barkwell-2006">{{harvnb|Barkwell|Dorion|Hourie|2006}}</ref>

The 19th-century community of Anglo-Métis, more commonly known as ''Countryborn'', were children of people in the Rupert's Land fur trade; they were typically of Orcadian, other Scottish, or English paternal descent and Aboriginal maternal descent.<ref name="Barkwell-2006" /> Their first languages would have been Aboriginal ([[Cree language]], [[Western Ojibwa language|Saulteaux language]], [[Assiniboine language]], etc.) and English. The [[Canadian Gaelic|Gaelic]] and [[Scots language|Scots]] spoken by Orcadians and other Scots became part of the [[creole language]] referred to as "[[Bungi creole|Bungee]]".<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2017 |title=Bungi |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/bungee |access-date=September 1, 2019 |orig-date=2008 |author=Eleanor M. Blaine |archive-date=September 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190901075650/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/bungee |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Flag====
{{Multiple image
| image1            = Metis Blue.svg
| alt1              = A flag with a blue background and a large centered white infinity loop.
| caption1          = The blue Métis flag.
| image2            = Metis Red.svg
| alt2              = A flag with a red background and a large centered white infinity loop.
| caption2          = The red Métis flag.
}}
The [[Métis flag]] is one of the oldest patriotic flags originating in Canada.<ref>{{Cite web |date=Jun 5, 2018 |title=Early Nationalism |url=https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/article/early-nationalism/ |access-date=Feb 14, 2023 |website=Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada |archive-date=February 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214071251/https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/article/early-nationalism/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The Métis have two flags. Both flags use the same design of a central [[infinity symbol]], but are different colours. The first red flag was flown by [[Cuthbert Grant]] in 1815 near [[Fort Espérance]] alongside the North-West Company (an unsubstantiated rumour reported by James Sutherland claimed that it was a gift from the North-West Company, but no evidence corroborates this). Days before the [[Battle of Seven Oaks]], "La Grenouillère" in 1816, [[Peter Fidler]] recorded Cuthbert Grant flying the blue flag. The red and blue are not cultural or linguistic identifiers and do not represent the companies.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Métis flag |url=http://www.metisresourcecentre.mb.ca/history/flag.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304015251/http://www.metisresourcecentre.mb.ca/history/flag.htm |archive-date=2009-03-04 |access-date=2009-10-03 |website=Gabriel Dumont Institute (Métis Culture & Heritage Resource Centre)}}</ref>

====Cultural genocide====
In 2019, the final report, ''Reclaiming Power and Place'',<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/final-report/ |title=Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls |date=29 May 2019 |access-date=2020-01-27 |archive-date=2019-06-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604174953/https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/final-report/ |url-status=live }}</ref> by the [[Canadian National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls|National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls]] stated "The violence the National Inquiry heard amounts to a race-based genocide of Indigenous Peoples, including First Nations, Inuit and Métis, which especially targets women and girls."

===Land ownership===
Issues of land ownership became a central theme, as the Métis sold most of the 600,000 acres (2430&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) they received in the first settlement.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ens |first=Gerhard |year=1983 |title=Métis Lands in Manitoba |url=http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/05/metislands.shtml |journal=Manitoba History |number=5 |archive-date=2020-01-18 |access-date=2020-01-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200118020017/http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/05/metislands.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sprague |first=D. N. |year=1980 |title=The Manitoba Land Question 1870–1882 |journal=Journal of Canadian Studies |volume=15 |pages=74–84 |doi=10.3138/jcs.15.3.74 |s2cid=152155284 |number=3}}</ref>

During the 1930s, political activism arose in Métis communities in Alberta and Saskatchewan over land rights, and some filed land claims for the return of certain lands.<ref>{{harvnb|Barkwell|2016}}</ref>
Five men, sometimes dubbed "The Famous Five", ([[James P. Brady]], [[Malcolm Norris]], Peter Tomkins Jr., Joe Dion, Felix Callihoo) were instrumental in having the Alberta government form the 1934 "Ewing Commission", headed by [[Albert Ewing]], to deal with land claims<ref>{{Cite book |last=Arneil |first=B. |author-link=Barbara Arneil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1pc4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT118 |title=Domestic Colonies: The Turn Inward to Colony |publisher=OUP Oxford |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-19-252512-3 |page=118 |access-date=Feb 14, 2023}}</ref> The Alberta government passed the ''[[Métis Population Betterment Act]]'' in 1938. The Act provided funding and land to the Métis.<ref name="Pocklington-1991">{{Cite book |last=Pocklington |first=T.C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=raJeP3Eoj-IC&pg=PA26 |title=The Government and Politics of the Alberta Metis Settlements |publisher=Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-88977-060-7 |series=Canadian plains studies |page=26 |access-date=Feb 14, 2023}}</ref> (The provincial government later rescinded portions of the land in certain areas.<ref name="Pocklington-1991" />)

In 1972, the Red River Point Society began leasing land around the community of Fort McKay, Alberta on behalf of the Metis community there.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-05-15 |title=History – Fort McKay Metis Nation |url=http://fortmckaymetis.com/history/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |language=en |archive-date=2023-11-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101174618/http://fortmckaymetis.com/history/ |url-status=live }}</ref>  In 2017, the Fort McKay local of the Metis Nation of Alberta purchased some land outright.<ref name="Global News" />

===Distribution===
According to the 2016 Canada Census, a total of 587,545 individuals self-identified as Métis.<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 June 2018 |title=Aboriginal Population Profile, 2016 Census – Canada |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/abpopprof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=01&Data=Count&SearchText=Canada&SearchType=Begins&B1=All&C1=All&SEX_ID=1&AGE_ID=1&RESGEO_ID=1 |access-date=November 15, 2018 |publisher=StatCan |archive-date=30 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220130040007/https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/abpopprof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=01&Data=Count&SearchText=canada&SearchType=Begins&B1=All&C1=All&SEX_ID=1&AGE_ID=1&RESGEO_ID=1 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, it is doubtful that all such individuals would meet the objective tests laid out in the Supreme Court decisions ''Powley'' and ''Daniels'' and therefore qualify as "Métis" for the purposes of Canadian law. Data from this section is from the [[2016 Canadian Census]] by Statistics Canada.<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 October 2017 |title=2016 Census of Canada: Topic-based tabulations &#124; Ethnic Origin (247), Single and Multiple Ethnic Origin Responses (3) and Sex (3) for the Population of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 Census – 20% Sample Data |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/hlt-fst/imm/index-eng.cfm |access-date=November 11, 2020 |publisher=StatCan |archive-date=27 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171027105529/https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/hlt-fst/imm/index-eng.cfm |url-status=live }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable collapsible"
|+Canadians identifying as Métis
|-
!scope="col"| Province / territory
!scope="col"| Percentage of self-identified Métis<br />(out of total population)
|-
|scope="row"| [[Newfoundland and Labrador]]
|1.5%
|-
|scope="row"| [[Prince Edward Island]]
|0.6%
|-
|scope="row"| [[Nova Scotia]]
|2.8%
|-
|scope="row"| [[New Brunswick]]
|1.5%
|-
|scope="row"| [[Quebec]]
|0.8%
|-
|scope="row"| [[Ontario]]
|1.0%
|-
|scope="row"| [[Manitoba]]
|7.3%
|-
|scope="row"| [[Saskatchewan]]
|5.2%
|-
|scope="row"| [[Alberta]]
|2.9%
|-
|scope="row"| [[British Columbia]]
|2.0%
|-
|scope="row"| [[Yukon]]
|2.9%
|-
|scope="row"| [[Northwest Territories]]
|7.1%
|-
|scope="row"| [[Nunavut]]
|0.5%
|-
!scope="row"| Canada total
|1.7%
|}

=== Métis settlements of Alberta ===
{{Main|Métis Settlements}}

[[File:Federation of Metis Settlements (Metisland) Flag.gif|thumb|A flag used by the Federation of Métis Settlements. National symbols in settlements are common, such as the motto "Our People, Our Land, Our Culture, Our Future"|alt=A flag with two vertical red bars touching its horizontal ends. The red bars each have four white infinity symbols stacked vertically. The flag's background is white, which can be seen in the center. In the center there is a large logo -- a circle colored red on its left half and brown on its right half, and having two stylized people in white -- a circle head, curved trapezoid arms that extend toward the edge of the circle, and curved legs that together make an M-shape.]]

The Métis settlements in Alberta are the only recognized land base of Métis in Canada. They are represented and governed collectively by a unique Métis government known as the '''Métis Settlements General Council''' (MSGC),<ref name="MSGC">{{Cite web |title=Metis Settlements of Alberta |url=https://msgc.ca/ |access-date=March 16, 2022 |website=msgc.ca |archive-date=March 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308045748/https://msgc.ca/ |url-status=live }}</ref> also known as the "All-Council". The MSGC is the provincial, national, and international representative of the Federated Métis Settlements. It holds [[fee simple]] land title via Letters Patents to 1.25&nbsp;million acres (5060&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) of land, making the MSGC the largest land holder in the province, other than the Crown in the Right of Alberta. The MSGC is the only recognized Métis Government in Canada with prescribed land, power, and jurisdiction via the ''Métis Settlements Act''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alberta |first=Government of |date=Sep 17, 2012 |title=Alberta King's Printer |url=https://kings-printer.alberta.ca/1266.cfm?page=m14.cfm&leg_type=Acts&isbncln=9780779826681 |access-date=Feb 14, 2023 |website=Alberta.ca}}</ref> (This legislation followed legal suits filed by the Métis Settlements against the Crown in the 1970s).

The Métis settlements consist of predominantly Indigenous Métis populations native to Northern Alberta – distinct from those of the Red River, the Great Lakes, and other migrant Métis from further east. However, following the Riel and Dumont resistances some Red-River Métis fled westward, where they married into the contemporary Métis settlement populations during the end of the 19th century and into the early 20th century. Historically referred to as the "Nomadic Half-breeds", the Métis of [[Northern Alberta]] have a unique history.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Peterson |first1=J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q8qervZ6nakC&pg=PA89 |title=The New Peoples: Being and Becoming Métis in North America |last2=Brown |first2=J.S.H. |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-87351-408-8 |series=Manitoba Series in Native Hist Series III Series |page=89 |access-date=Feb 14, 2023}}</ref> Their fight for land is still evident today with the eight contemporary Métis settlements.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Darcy L. MacPherson |first1=et |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8O27DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA57 |title=Manitoba Law Journal: A Review of the Current Legal Landscape 2015 Volume 38(1) |last2=MacPherson |first2=D.L. |last3=Schwartz |first3=B.P. |publisher=Manitoba Law Journal |page=57 |access-date=Feb 14, 2023}}</ref>

Following the formal establishment of the Métis settlements, then called Half-Breed Colonies, in the 1930s by a distinct Métis political organization, the Métis populations in Northern Alberta were the only Métis to secure communal Métis lands. During renewed Indigenous activism during the 1960s into the 1970s, political organizations were formed or revived among the Métis. In Alberta, the Métis settlements united as: The "Alberta Federation of Métis Settlement Associations" in the mid-1970s. Today, the Federation is represented by the Métis Settlements General Council.<ref name="MSGC" />

During the constitutional talks of 1982, the Métis were recognized as one of the three Aboriginal peoples of Canada, in part by the Federation of Métis Settlements. In 1990, the Alberta government, following years of conferences and negotiations between the Federation of Métis Settlements (FMS) and the Crown in the Right of Alberta, restored land titles to the northern Métis communities through the ''Métis Settlement Act'', replacing the ''Métis Betterment Act''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=Apr 21, 2022 |title=History of Métis Settlements in Canada |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/metis-settlements#:~:text=This%20agreement%20provided%20the%20framework,General%20Council%20as%20legal%20entities. |access-date=Feb 14, 2023 |website=The Canadian Encyclopedia}}</ref> Originally, the first Métis settlements in Alberta were called colonies and consisted of:

* Buffalo Lake (Caslan) or Beaver River
* Cold Lake
* East Prairie (south of Lesser Slave Lake)
* Elizabeth (east of Elk Point)
* Fishing Lake (Packechawanis)
* Gift Lake (Ma-cha-cho-wi-se) or Utikuma Lake
* Goodfish Lake
* Kikino
* Kings Land
* Marlboro
* Paddle Prairie (or Keg River)
* Peavine (Big Prairie, north of High Prairie)
* Touchwood
* Wolf Lake (north of Bonnyville)

In the 1960s, the settlements of Marlboro, Touchwood, Cold Lake, and Wolf Lake were dissolved by Order-in-Council by the Alberta Government. The remaining Métis Settlers were forced to move into one of the eight remaining Métis Settlements&nbsp;– leaving the eight contemporary Métis Settlements.

The position of [[Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians]] was created in 1985 as a portfolio in the [[Cabinet of Canada|Canadian Cabinet]].<ref name="Indian and Northern Affairs Canada-2009">{{Cite web |year=2009 |title=Office of the Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians (Mandate, Roles and Responsibilities) |url=http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ai/arp/mrr-eng.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100128070204/http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ai/arp/mrr-eng.asp |archive-date=2010-01-28 |access-date=2010-04-18 |publisher=Indian and Northern Affairs Canada}}</ref> The [[Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada|Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]] is officially responsible only for [[Indian Register|Status Indians]] and largely with those living on [[Indian reserve]]s. The new position was created in order provide a liaison between the federal government and Métis and non-status Aboriginal peoples, urban Aboriginals, and their representatives.<ref name="Indian and Northern Affairs Canada-2009" />

== Organizations in Canada ==

=== Pre-Batoche ===
[[File:ProvisionalMetisGovernment.jpg|thumb|Councillors of the Métis Provisional Government, 1870. [[Louis Riel]] sits in the centre.]]The [[Provisional Government of Saskatchewan]] was the name given by [[Louis Riel]] to the independent state he declared during the [[North-West Rebellion]] (Resistance) of 1885 in what is today the Canadian province of [[Saskatchewan]]. The governing council was named the [[Exovedate]], Latin for "of the flock".<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Métis > 1885 Northwest Resistance |encyclopedia=Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada |publisher=Canadian Geographic |url=https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/article/1885-northwest-resistance/ |access-date=March 16, 2022 |archive-date=August 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220830060401/https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/article/1885-northwest-resistance/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The council debated issues ranging from military policy to local bylaws and theological issues. It met at [[Batoche, Saskatchewan]], and exercised real authority only over the [[Southbranch Settlement]]. The provisional government collapsed that year after the [[Battle of Batoche]].

=== {{Anchor|L'Association des Métis d'Alberta et les Territories du Nord-Ouest (1928) and Métis Association of Alberta (1932)}}Métis Nation of Alberta (1928) ===
In the 1920s, Métis in the [[Cold Lake, Alberta|Cold Lake]] area of [[Alberta]] were concerned about the federal government's decision to transfer control of natural resources to the province and its impact on Métis living on Crown land. The "Métis Famous Five" thereby founded the ''Association des Métis Alberta et les Territoires du Nord-Ouest'' in 1928 as the first stable Métis organization in Alberta that could advocate to the provincial government there.<ref name="MNA">{{Cite web |title=Timeline |url=https://albertametis.com/metis-in-alberta/timeline/ |access-date=2024-06-30 |website=Métis Nation of Alberta |language=en-CA |archive-date=2024-06-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240630214552/https://albertametis.com/metis-in-alberta/timeline/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1932, the Association was organized more formally and became the Métis Association of Alberta (MAA), including 31 locals across Alberta.<ref name="MNA" />

Joe Dion, [[Malcolm Norris]], and Adrian Hope, as well as other Métis leaders, successfully lobbied the provincial government, In 1934, the [[Ewing Commission]] was formed to investigate Métis issues, which in turn resulted in the ''[[Métis Population Betterment Act]]'' and the creation of the Metis Settlements.<ref name="MNA" />

The MAA would later be renamed as the [[Métis Nation of Alberta]] (MNA).

In February 2020, the [[Alberta Métis Federation]] was founded to represent six local Métis communities in Alberta that had separated from the MNA.

=== Manitoba Métis Federation (1967) ===
The [[Manitoba Métis Federation]] (MMF), founded in 1967, is the only officially recognized Métis Government in Canada.<ref name="MMF">{{Cite web |title=Manitoba Métis Federation - The National Government of the Red River Métis |url=https://www.mmf.mb.ca/manitoba-metis-federation-the-national-government-of-the-red-river-metis |access-date=2024-06-30 |website=Manitoba Métis Federation |language=en |archive-date=2024-06-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240630214552/https://www.mmf.mb.ca/manitoba-metis-federation-the-national-government-of-the-red-river-metis |url-status=live }}</ref>

On July 6, 2021, the MMF signed the Manitoba Métis Self-Government Recognition and Implementation Agreement with the Government of Canada at [[Upper Fort Garry]], which provided immediate recognition of the MMF as the democratically elected Métis Government for the Red River Métis.<ref name="MMF" />

In September 2021, the MMF withdrew from the [[Métis National Council]], due to that organization's failure to uphold the 2002 nationally accepted definition of Métis.<ref name="CBC-2021" />

=== {{Anchor|Native Council of Canada (1971) and Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (1993)}}Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (1971) ===
The [[Native Council of Canada]] was founded in 1971 as a pan-Indigenous umbrella group that included member organizations that represented all off-reserve First Nations as well as the Métis. In 1983, many of its Western Metis members split off to form the [[Métis National Council]]. The Native Council of Canada continues today as the [[Congress of Aboriginal Peoples]] (CAP) and its nine regional affiliates represent all Aboriginal people who are not part of the reserve system, including Métis and [[non-Status Indians]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

=== {{Anchor|Metis National Council (1983)}}Metis National Council (1983) ===
The [[Métis National Council]] was formed in 1983, following the recognition of the Métis as "aboriginal peoples of Canada," in [[Section Thirty-five of the Constitution Act, 1982|Section Thirty-five]] of the ''[[Constitution Act, 1982]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 May 2021 |title=INAN – Section 35 of the Constitution Act 1982 – Background – Jan 28, 2021 |url=https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/transparency/committees/inan-jan-28-2021/inan-section-35-consitution-act-1982-background-jan-28-2021.html |access-date=21 April 2022 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331220827/https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/transparency/committees/inan-jan-28-2021/inan-section-35-consitution-act-1982-background-jan-28-2021.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The MNC was a member of the [[World Council of Indigenous Peoples]] (WCIP).{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

In 1997 the Métis National Council was granted NGO Consultative Status with the [[United Nations Economic and Social Council]]. The MNC's first ambassador to this group was [[Clément Chartier]]. MNC is a founding member of the [[American Council of Indigenous Peoples]] (ACIP).<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaPEr9O4VmA |title=Founding Meeting of the American Council of Indigenous Peoples |date=Apr 18, 2018 |access-date=March 16, 2022 |format=YouTube |archive-date=March 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220317032106/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaPEr9O4VmA |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Métis National Council is currently composed of four provincial Métis organizations, though numbers have varied over time.<ref>Mann, Michelle M. (2007). ''[https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2007/hrsdc-rhdsc/HS54-1-2007E.pdf First Nations, Métis and Inuit Children and Youth Time to Act]''. National Council of Welfare, vol. 127. Ottawa: National Council of Welfare. {{ISBN|978-0-662-46640-6}}</ref> namely,

* [[Métis Nation of Alberta]]
* [[Métis Nation British Columbia]]
* [[Métis Nation-Saskatchewan]]
* [[Métis Nation of Ontario]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Métis National Council |url=https://www.metisnation.ca/ |access-date=2023-02-08 |website=www.metisnation.ca |archive-date=2023-02-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208232020/https://www.metisnation.ca/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
The National Council holds province-wide ballot box elections for political positions in these associations, held at regular intervals, for regional and provincial leadership. Métis citizens and their communities are represented and participate in these Métis governance structures by way of elected Locals or Community Councils, as well as provincial assemblies held annually.<ref>[http://www.metisnation.ca/ Métis National Council] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324115951/https://www2.metisnation.ca/ |date=2022-03-24 }}, homepage.</ref>

There used to be five groups, but in September 2021, the [[Manitoba Metis Federation]] left over membership issues involving the&nbsp;Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO), with President [[David Chartrand]] citing issues of the Council accepting the MNO despite the MNO having "nearly 80 per cent&nbsp;non-Métis Nation Citizens&nbsp;in their registry."<ref name="CBC-2021">{{Cite web |date=Sep 29, 2021 |title=Manitoba Métis Federation leaves Métis National Council |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/manitoba-metis-leaves-national-council-1.6193575/ |access-date=Dec 1, 2022 |archive-date=December 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201162340/https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/manitoba-metis-leaves-national-council-1.6193575 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Métis National Council has stated that they reject the idea of new Ontario Métis communities,<ref name="Identity Forum">{{Cite web |date=Mar 27, 2021 |title=Métis National Council rejects idea of new Ontario Métis communities after 2nd identity forum |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/metis-national-council-identity-forum-1.5964535 |access-date=Dec 1, 2022 |quote=David Chartrand, vice-president of the Métis National Council, says communities outside northwestern Ontario are not connected to the Métis homeland or to the culture of the nation. The Métis National Council (MNC) has released a statement flat out rejecting "new Métis" communities, particularly in Ontario... Chartrand is worried that many of the new people who claim to be Métis in Ontario might have mixed First Nations and European ancestry, but don't necessarily have a connection to Métis culture, history or the Métis homeland. He said the homeland of the Métis extends to parts of northwestern Ontario, including the regions around Kenora and Fort Frances, but questioned the validity of communities in other parts of Ontario. |archive-date=December 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201213551/https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/metis-national-council-identity-forum-1.5964535 |url-status=live }}</ref> and in 2020 they suspended the membership of the MNO due to concerns that 90% of the MNOs registered members did not fulfill the requirements of citizenship put in place by the National Council in 2002,<ref name="TheStar-2020">{{Cite web |date=2020-01-26 |title=Métis leaders raise concerns about national council, call for reform |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/01/26/mtis-leaders-raise-concerns-about-national-council-call-for-reform.html |access-date=2021-04-15 |website=thestar.com |language=en |archive-date=2021-04-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415000714/https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/01/26/mtis-leaders-raise-concerns-about-national-council-call-for-reform.html |url-status=live }}</ref> notably the requirement for an ancestral link to the Métis homelands and the [[Red River Valley|Red River area]] specifically.<ref name="TheStar-2020" /><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Lachance |first1=Miguel |last2=Pilion |first2=Didier |date=August 23, 2019 |title=Les Métis de l'Ontario tentent de s'entendre au sujet de la gouvernance |url=https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1271648/assemblee-generale-annuelle-nation-metisse-crise-confiance |access-date=2022-11-29 |website=Radio-Canada |language=fr-ca |quote=M. Sarrazin fait référence à une résolution du Ralliement national des Métis (RNM), qui exige de la NMO la mise en place d'une définition plus stricte du statut de Métis pour mettre fin à une probation. 'La probation, je m'en fous, car [le Ralliement] n'a aucune autorité sur nous, affirme Mme Picotte.'}}</ref>

<q>On March 22, 2022, in response to Chartrand's comments on MNO suspension, President Margaret Froh stated her position that, "The MNO was never suspended, the MNO was on probation and there was a decision by just a few individuals declaring that the MNO was suspended when in fact that wasn't correct and in fact we (MNO) went to court and the court concluded we were not suspended.</q><ref>Ward, Dennis (2022-03-22) 3:16. "Métis National Council moving forward says MNO president". APTN News. Retrieved 2023-02-09.</ref> The Ontario group had granted memberships to people from four disputed communities:<ref name="St Catherines">{{Cite web |date=2021-10-06 |title=MNO will present its case to determine future in Métis National Council |url=https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ts/news/canada/2021/10/06/mno-will-present-its-case-to-determine-future-in-mtis-national-council.html |access-date=2023-02-08 |website=stcatharinesstandard.com |language=en |archive-date=2023-02-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208213923/https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ts/news/canada/2021/10/06/mno-will-present-its-case-to-determine-future-in-mtis-national-council.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Métis Nation of Ontario {{!}} Harvesting |url=https://www.metisnation.org/registry/harvesting/ |access-date=2023-02-08 |website=Métis Nation of Ontario |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-02-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208213924/https://www.metisnation.org/registry/harvesting/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Mattawa, Ontario|Mattawa]], [[Georgian Bay, Ontario|Georgian Bay]], [[Killarney, Ontario|Killarney]], and [[Temiskaming]], claiming these groups consist of Métis people, and not simply regions inhabited by First Nations individuals and some settlers, but without cultural ties to the recognized Métis communities.<ref>{{Cite web |title='You can't be us': Manitoba Metis Federation unanimously passes resolution to leave Metis National Council – APTN News |date=24 September 2019 |url=https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/you-cant-be-us-manitoba-metis-federation-unanimously-passes-resolution-to-leave-metis-national-council/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028144000/https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/you-cant-be-us-manitoba-metis-federation-unanimously-passes-resolution-to-leave-metis-national-council/ |archive-date=2020-10-28}}</ref> When the suspension was announced, a motion was passed to create a panel of experts, including representatives from the four Métis Nation governments (including MNO), to "gather information and present findings and recommendations" on how to proceed.<ref name="St Catherines" />

=== Ontario Métis Aboriginal Association ===
The Woodland Métis are not affiliated with the [[Métis Nation of Ontario]] (MNO). MNO President Tony Belcourt said in 2005 that he did not know who OMAA members are, but that they are not Métis.<ref>{{Cite web |title=OMAA names MNO in legal action against governments |url=http://ammsa.com/publications/ontario-birchbark/omaa-names-mno-legal-action-against-governments |access-date=November 15, 2018 |website=Ammsa.com |archive-date=September 8, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180908015759/http://ammsa.com/publications/ontario-birchbark/omaa-names-mno-legal-action-against-governments |url-status=live }}</ref>

In a Supreme Court of Canada appeal (Document C28533, page 17), the federal government states that "membership in OMAA and/or MNO does not establish membership in the specific local aboriginal community for the purposes of establishing a s. 35 [Indigenous and treaty] right. Neither OMAA nor the MNO constitute the sort of discrete, historic and site-specific community contemplated by Van der Peet capable of holding a constitutionally protected aboriginal right".<ref>{{Cite report |url=http://www.constitutional-law.net/index.php?option=com_mtree&task=att_download&link_id=222&cf_id=24 |title=Supreme Court of Canada, Queen vs Powley & Powley |date=December 2002 |docket=C28533 |access-date=November 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200120201721/http://www.constitutional-law.net/index.php?option=com_mtree&task=att_download&link_id=222&cf_id=24 |archive-date=January 20, 2020 }}</ref> (See: [[#Other groups and individuals|Other groups and individuals]])

==Métis people in the United States==
[[File:Paul Kane-BuffaloHunt-ROM.jpg|upright=1.2|alt=[[Paul Kane]]'s oil painting ''Half-Breeds Running Buffalo'', depicting a Métis buffalo hunt on the prairies of Dakota in June 1846|thumb|[[Paul Kane]]'s oil painting ''Half-Breeds Running Buffalo'', depicting a [[Métis buffalo hunt]] on the prairies of Dakota in June 1846]]
Métis people in the United States are a specific culture and community, who descend from unions between Native American and early [[European Americans|European colonist]] parents – usually Indigenous women who married French, and later Scottish or English, men, who worked as fur trappers and traders during the 17th to 19th centuries in the fur trade era. The women were usually [[Algonquian peoples|Algonquian]], [[Ojibwe]] and [[Cree]]. They developed as an ethnic and cultural group from the descendants of these unions.

In the French colonies, people of mixed Indigenous and French ancestry were referred to by those who spoke French as ''métis'', meaning "mixture." Being bilingual, these people were able to trade European goods, such as [[musket]]s, for the furs and hides at a [[trading post]]. These ''Métis'' were found throughout the Great Lakes area and to the west, in the Rocky Mountains. While the word in this usage originally had no ethnic designation (and was not capitalized in English), it grew to describe a specific [[ethnicity]] by the early 19th century. This use (of simply meaning "mixed") excludes mixed-race people born of unions in other settings or more recently than about 1870.

Fewer Métis live in the U.S. than in Canada. During the early colonial era, people moved easily back and forth through Canada and the other British colonies.

===Geography===
With exploration, settlement, and exploitation of resources by French and British fur trading interests across North America, European men often had relationships and sometimes marriages with Native American women. Often both sides felt such marriages were beneficial in strengthening the fur trade. Indigenous women often served as interpreters and could introduce their men to their people. Because many Native Americans and First Nations often had [[matrilineal]] [[kinship]] systems, the mixed-race children were considered born to the mother's clan and usually raised in her culture. Few were educated in European schools.<ref name="Poitras Pratt 2019">{{harvnb|Poitras Pratt|2019}}</ref>

The métis children who did attempt to integrate into European societies faced many issues with trying to gain citizenship within these early settlements.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lapier |first=Rosalyn |title=American Indian Family History Project. |oclc=967481139}} 23 pages.</ref> Their success often related to their European father's status; fur traders, rather than trappers, were more settled men of capital and more likely to acquire education for their mixed-race children.

The métis men in the northern tier typically worked in the fur trade and later hunting and as guides. The métis based in [[Red River Colony]] eventually settled throughout the [[Canadian Prairies]] as a distinct ethnic group with its own culture known as the Métis.<ref name="Poitras Pratt 2019"/><ref>{{harvnb|Bell|2013|page=4}}</ref>

===United States history===
Between 1795 and 1815, a network of Métis settlements and trading posts was established throughout what is now the US states of [[Territory Northwest of the River Ohio|Michigan and to a lesser extent in Illinois and Indiana]].
[[File:Metis family with Red River carts in North Dakota (1883).jpg|thumb|A Metis family poses with their Red River carts in a field in western North Dakota. (1883) State Historical Society of North Dakota (A4365)]]

After the [[War of 1812]], the US prohibited British (including Scots) traders from Canada participating in the fur trade south of the border, disrupting longstanding practices. During the early days of [[Michigan Territory|territorial Michigan]], Métis and ethnic French played a dominant role in elections, as they had been established there long before the United States was formed. It was largely with Métis support that [[Gabriel Richard]] was elected as delegate to Congress.

After Michigan was admitted as a state and, under pressure of increased numbers of European-American settlers from eastern states, many Métis migrated westward into the [[Canadian Prairies]], including the [[Red River Colony]] and the [[Southbranch Settlement]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barkwell |first=Lawrence J. |title=The Metis homeland: its settlements and communities |publisher=Louis Riel Institute |date=2016 |isbn=978-1-927531-12-9 |location=Winnipeg, MB |oclc=956556384}}</ref> By the late 1830s only in the area of [[Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan|Sault Ste. Marie]], which had long been a center of fur trading and more cosmopolitan interracial encounter, was there recognition of the Métis as significant members of the community.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Binnema |first1=T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4-gZSsrCr5QC&pg=PA51 |title=New Histories for Old: Changing Perspectives on Canada's Native Pasts |last2=Neylan |first2=S. |publisher=UBC Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-7748-4012-5 |page=51 |access-date=Feb 14, 2023}}</ref>

In the 1840s, Métis peoples were making historical impacts in developing parts of the United States. One significant example is [[Pierre Parrant]], who established the first business in what is now the city of [[Saint Paul, Minnesota]], the capital of the state.<ref> Williams, J. Fletcher (1876). A history of the city of Saint Paul, and the county of Ramsey, Minnesota. Saint Paul: The Society.</ref><ref>Brainard Kunz, Virginia (1991). McClure, Jane (ed.). Saint Paul, The First 150 Years. The Saint Paul Foundation, Inc. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-9630690-0-9.</ref>   

A large group of Métis from the Pembina region hunted in Montana in the 1860s, eventually forming an agricultural settlement in the [[Judith Basin]] by 1880. This settlement eventually disintegrated, with most Métis leaving, or identifying more strongly either as "white" or "Indian".<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Annette |first=Travis R. |title=Where the Buffalo Roam: Migration of the French Red River Metis to Lewiston, Montana |degree=Masters |publisher=Montana State University |url=https://www.montana.edu/history/documents/papers/TravisArnette.pdf |year=2010}}</ref>

Métis often participated in interracial marriages. The French, particularly, viewed these marriages as sensible and realistic. Americans, however, viewed interracial marriages as unsound based on their ideas of racial purity. Although marriage to Native Americans was legal, some parts of American society believed that the spouse of the highest social class lost status by such marriage, as did their children. In frontier areas, these ideas were less important.

The French, however, had encouraged fur traders to participate in interracial marriages with Indians as they were beneficial to the fur trade business and also to spread religion. Generally speaking, these marriages were happy ones, that lasted and brought together differing groups of people and benefitted the fur trade business.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fredrickson |first=George M. |date=March 2005 |title=Mulattoes and metis. Attitudes toward miscegenation in the United States and France since the seventeenth century |journal=International Social Science Journal |language=en |volume=57 |issue=183 |pages=103–112 |doi=10.1111/j.0020-8701.2005.00534.x |issn=0020-8701}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Peterson |Brown |1985|pages=41–67}}</ref>

===Current population===
Mixed-race people live throughout Canada and the northern United States. Relatively few in the US identify ethnically and culturally as Métis, as it was based north of the border in Red River country. A strong Prairie Métis identity exists in the Métis Homeland which occupied most of [[Rupert's Land]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Labelle |first=M.J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NXqAEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT26 |title=The Boomerang Effect of Decolonization: Post-Orientalism and the Politics of Difference |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |year=2023 |isbn=978-0-2280-1543-7 |page=26 |access-date=Feb 14, 2023}}</ref>

Métis or their descendants also live in [[Minnesota]], [[Montana]] and [[North Dakota]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Foster |first=M.H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9GcfDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA23 |title=We Know Who We Are: Métis Identity in a Montana Community |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-8061-8234-6 |page=23 |access-date=Feb 14, 2023}}</ref> A number of self-identified Métis live in North Dakota, mostly in [[Pembina County, North Dakota|Pembina County]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Métis: A Blending of Two Cultures |url=https://www.history.nd.gov/historicsites/pembina/pembinahistory4.html |access-date=2016-01-07 |website=history.nd.gov |publisher=Pembina State Museum – History |agency=State Historical Society of North Dakota |archive-date=2015-12-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151219010158/http://history.nd.gov/historicsites/pembina/pembinahistory4.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Many members of the [[Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians]] (a federally recognized Tribe) identify as Métis or Michif rather than as strictly [[Ojibwe]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=White Weasel |first=Charlie |title=Old White Rice "The Great Chief" "Genesis of the Pembina/Turtle Mountain Chippewa" |publisher=Self published |year=1989 |location=Belcourt, North Dakota |page=5}}</ref>

Many Métis families are recorded in the U.S. Census for the historic Métis settlement areas along the Detroit and St. Clair rivers, [[Mackinac Island]] and [[Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan]].

Métis persons generally have not organized as an ethnic or political group in the United States as they have in Canada, where they had armed confrontations and have gained status rights as a recognized aboriginal group.

The first "Conference on the Métis in North America" was held in Chicago in 1981,<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/1183704 Peter C. Douaud, "Reviewed Work: 'The New Peoples: Being and Becoming Métis in North America' by Jacqueline Peterson, Jennifer S. H. Brown"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200127170114/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1183704 |date=2020-01-27 }}, ''American Indian Quarterly'' Vol. 11, No. 2 (Spring, 1987), pp. 159–161, University of Nebraska Press, Article {{doi|10.2307/1183704}} {{subscription required|via JSTOR}}, accessed 12 May 2015</ref> after increasing research about this people. This also was a period of increased appreciation for different ethnic groups and reappraisal of the histories of settlement of North America.

Papers at the conference focused on "becoming Métis", and the role of history in formation of this ethnic group, defined in Canada as having Aboriginal status. The Metis peoples and their history continue to be extensively studied, especially by scholars in Canada and the United States.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Giroux |first=Monique |year=2018 |title=New Directions and Revisionist Histories in Métis Studies |journal=Acadiensis |publisher=Acadiensis: Journal of the History of the Atlantic Region |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=142–150 |doi=10.1353/aca.2018.0027 |issn=0044-5851 |jstor=26556916}}</ref>

===Louis Riel and the United States===
Riel had a significant influence on the Métis community in Canada, especially in the Manitoba region. However, he also had a distinct relationship with the Métis in the United States who were related to the Canadian base. He had entered the US and was an American citizen when he was captured. He was returned to Canada where he was convicted of treason for earlier actions and executed.<ref name="Bumsted-1999">{{Cite journal |last=Bumsted |first=J. M. |date=March 1999 |title=Louis Riel and the United States |journal=American Review of Canadian Studies |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=17–41 |doi=10.1080/02722019909481620 |issn=0272-2011}}</ref> <!--Limited access to article -->Riel attempted to lead those of the Métis community in the United States who were related to the Red River region, and contributed to the defence of Métis rights.

On October 22, 1844, Louis Riel was born in the Red River settlement known as the territory of [[Assiniboia]].<ref name="Bumsted-1999" /> He was born with French background; however, as the Métis are a mobile community, he travelled a lot and had a transitional identity, meaning he would often cross the Canada and United States border. During the 19th century, there were few American-born citizens living in Red River.

On November 22, 1869, Riel went to Winnipeg to discuss the rights of the Métis community with Governor McDougall. At the end of the settlement, McDougall&nbsp;agreed to guarantee a "List of Rights".<ref name="Bumsted-1999" /> It also incorporated four clauses of the Dakota bill of rights. This Bill of rights was the rise of the American influence during the Red River Métis resistance and was an important milestone in Métis justice.

The following years were a time of conflict between the government in charge and the Métis people. Métis leaders, such as Louis Riel, were crossing the border without what the colonial government saw as proper notice. This caused repercussions for Riel, who was wanted by the Ontario government. He was later accused of the Scott Death, a murder case. By 1874, there was a warrant out for his arrest in Winnipeg.<ref name="Bumsted-1999" /> Because of the warrant charges in Canada, Riel believed that the United States was a safer territory for him and the Métis people. He went into exile in the US.

Riel struggled with mental health problems and sought proper treatment in the American northeast from 1875 to 1878. Once better, he decided to obtain an American residence and complete the liberation of the Métis people that he first started in 1869. Riel wanted to gain US military support to invade Manitoba to obtain control. The American military rejected his proposition.

He tried to create an international alliance between the Aboriginal and Metis peoples, but was not successful. In the end he worked to improve the living conditions and rights of the Métis people in the United States. Frustrated by his failures, Riel suffered further mental breakdowns and was hospitalized in Quebec.<ref name="Bumsted-1999" />

From 1879, Riel returned to Montana to work on leading the Métis and Native peoples of the region to join forces and work against the provisional government. He did not succeed, but he decided to become an American citizen. He said, "The United States sheltered me, The English didn't care/what they owe they will pay/! I am citizen".<ref name="Bumsted-1999" /> From 1880 to 1884, Riel concentrated his public life on improving the situation of the [[:Category:Métis in Montana|Montana Metis]]. In the following years, he tried to gain official United States citizenship. Although he did, it did not protect him from being convicted of treason in Canada for earlier actions and being executed.

==Medicine Line (Canada–U.S. border)==
The Métis homeland existed before the implementation of the Canada–U.S. border and continues to exist on both sides of this border today. The implementation of the border affected the Métis in a multitude of ways, with border enforcement growing from relaxed to increasingly stronger over time.<ref name="Hogue-2002">{{harvnb|Hogue|2002}}</ref> In the late 18th century to early 19th century the Métis found that in times of conflict, they could cross the [[49th parallel north]] in either direction and the trouble following them would stop and so the border was known as the Medicine Line. This began to change toward the end of the 19th century when the border became more enforced and the Canadian government saw an opportunity to put an end to the line hopping by using military force.<ref name="Hogue-2002" /> This effectively split some of the Métis population and restricted the mobility of the People. The enforcement of the border was used as a means for governments on either side of the Medicine Line in the grand prairies to control the Métis population and to restrict their access to [[Bison hunting|buffalo]].<ref name="Hogue-2002" /> Because of the importance of [[kinship]] and mobility for Métis communities,<ref name=Stonge-2012/> this had negative implications and resulted in different experiences and hardships for people in the now divided group.

Métis experience in the U.S. is largely coloured by unratified [[Treaty|treaties]] and the lack of federal representation of Métis communities as a legitimate people, and this can be seen in the case of the Little Shell Tribe in Montana.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vrooman |first=Nicholas C. P. |date=Spring 2019 |title=The Persistence of the Little Shell People |journal=Distinctly Montana Magazine |pages=67–69}}</ref> While experiences in Canada are also affected by the misrecognition of the Métis, many Métis were dispossessed of their lands when they were sold to settlers and some communities set up [[Road allowance community|road allowance villages]]. These small villages were squatters' villages along Crown land outside established villages in the prairies of Canada.<ref>{{harvnb|MacKinnon|2018}}</ref> These villages were often burned by local authorities and had to be rebuilt by surviving members of the communities who lived in them.

==See also==
{{Portal|Indigenous peoples of the Americas}}
* [[List of Métis people]]
* [[Little Shell Band of Chippewa Indians]]
* {{anl|Marriage à la façon du pays|Marriage ''à la façon du pays''}}
* [[Mestiço]] – Portuguese cognate for a person with one Indigenous and one European parent
* [[Mestizo]] – Spanish [[cognate]] for a person of mixed Indigenous American and European heritage in Latin America

==Citations==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

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* {{Cite book |last=Poitras Pratt |first=Yvonne |title=Digital Storytelling in Indigenous Education. A decolonizing journey for a Métis community |date=August 25, 2019 |publisher=Routledge Taylor & Francis Group |isbn=978-1-315-26554-4 |edition=1st |location=New York |doi=10.4324/9781315265544 |s2cid=199176897}}
* {{Citation |title=The New Peoples: Being and Becoming Métis in North America |year=1985 |editor-last=Peterson |editor-first=Jacqueline |editor-last2=Brown |editor-first2=Jennifer S.H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q8qervZ6nakC&q=M%C3%A9tis&pg=PP1 |series=Critical Studies in Native History |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press |isbn=0-87351-408-4 }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Pritchard |first1=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kK9wa98I4eEC&pg=PA36 |title=In Search of Empire: The French in the Americas, 1670-1730 |last2=Pritchard |first2=James S. |last3=Pritchard |first3=Professor James |date=January 22, 2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-82742-3 |language=en }}
* {{Cite book |last=Ray |first=Arthur J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=skdyDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA210 |title=Aboriginal Rights Claims and the Making and Remaking of History |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-7735-4743-8 }}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |year=2017 |title=Manitoba Act |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/manitoba-act |access-date=November 29, 2019 |orig-date=2006 |last2=Scott |first2=J. |last1=Rea |first1=J. E. }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Robson |first1=Kathryn |title=France and "Indochina": Cultural Representations |last2=Yee |first2=Jennifer |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2005 |isbn=0-7391-0840-9}}
* {{Citation |last=Quan |first=Holly |title=Native Chiefs and Famous Métis: Leadership and Bravery in the Canadian West |year=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NJ0YAEk3p8QC&q=M%C3%A9tis&pg=PP1 |publisher=Heritage House |isbn=978-1-894974-74-5 }}
* {{Cite book |url=https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/ |title=Contours of a People: Metis family, mobility, and history |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-8061-4279-1 |editor-last=St-Onge |editor-first=Nicole |location=Norman, OK |editor-last2=Podruchny |editor-first2=Carolyn |editor-last3=Macdougall |editor-first3=Brenda |archive-date=2017-06-15 |access-date=2019-11-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170615013224/http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/ |url-status=live }}
* Sawchuck, J. (2001). Negotiating an Identity: Métis Political Organizations, the Canadian Government, and Competing Concepts of Aboriginality. ''American Indian Quarterly'', '''25'''(1), 73–92.
* {{Citation |last=Sprague |first=Douglas N |title=Canada and the Métis, 1869–1885 |year=1988 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D0BnHT9zHYIC&q=M%C3%A9tis&pg=PP1 |publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press |isbn=0-88920-958-8 }}
* Teillet, Jean (2019). ''The North-West Is Our Mother: The Story of Louis Riel's People'', Patrick Crean Editions. ISBN 978-1443450126
* {{Cite book |last=Tremaudan |first=Auguste-Henri de |url=http://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/2022973 |title=l'Histoire de la nation métisse dans l'ouest canadien |date=1936a |publisher=Éditions Albert Lévesque |location=Montreal |pages=? |language=fr |access-date=1 August 2020 |archive-date=24 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924120647/https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/2022973 |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |last=Tremaudan |first=Auguste-Henri de |title=l'Histoire de la nation métisse dans l'ouest canadien |publisher=Pemmican Publications |year=1936b |location=Winnipeg |page=? |language=en |translator-last=Maguet |translator-first=Elizabeth |trans-title=Hold High Your Heads: History of the Metis Nation in Western Canada |orig-date=1982}}
* {{Cite book |last=Van Kirk |first=Sylvia |url=https://archive.org/details/manytendertieswo00vank |title=Many Tender Ties: Women in Fur-Trade Society, 1670–1870 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-8061-1847-5 |doi=10.2307/3346234 |jstor=3346234 |url-access=registration }}
* Vrooman, N. (2019). [http://digital.distinctlymontana.com/i/1090885-distinctly-montana-spring-2019 There are a Range of Identities with Being Little Shell, Just As the Wider America] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191117213411/http://digital.distinctlymontana.com/i/1090885-distinctly-montana-spring-2019 |date=2019-11-17 }}. ''Distinctly Montana Magazine'', pp 68–69 of 98. 
* {{Citation |last=Wall |first=Denis |title=The Alberta Métis letters, 1930–1940: policy review and annotations |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CPPI4aAkC-gC&q=M%C3%A9tis&pg=PP1 |publisher=DWRG Press |isbn=978-0-9809026-2-4 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Weinstein |first=John |title=Quiet Revolution West: The Rebirth of Métis Nationalism |publisher=Fifth House Publishers |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-897252-21-5 |location=Calgary}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|Métis}}
{{Wiktionary}}
{{Commons category|Métis}}
* [http://www.rupertsland.org The Rupertsland Institute] (Alberta) – A service dedicated to the research and development, education, and training and employment of Métis individuals. It is affiliated with the Métis Nations of Alberta. Along with providing financial aid, the Rupertsland Institute helps Métis individuals acquire essential skills for employment.
* [http://www.metismuseum.ca/media/db/11913 The Métis Museum] – "Métis Political Organizations" compiled by [[Lawrence J. Barkwell|Lawrence Barkwell]], Louis Riel Institute; Manitoba, Canada
* [https://www.academia.edu/39255006/Metis_Firsts_in_North_America_Many_Little_Known_Facts_About_the_Metis?email_work_card=title "Metis Firsts in North America: Many Little Known Facts About the Metis"] compiled by [[Lawrence J. Barkwell|Lawrence Barkwell]], Manitoba Métis Federation; Canada, 2011.
* [http://www.metisnation.ca/ Métis Nation]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060110133336/http://www.abo-peoples.org/ Congress of Aboriginal Peoples]
* [http://www.metismuseum.ca/ Métis Museum (Gabriel Dumont Institute)]
* [http://www.milanart.ca Milan Métis Healing Art Project—MMHAP]
* [http://metisinthecourts.ualberta.ca Métis in the Courts]. Site includes interviews with legal and history experts on Métis issues.
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNyAbXAJ_0k The MNO and "New" Historic Métis Communities – Darren O'Toole, University of Ottawa]
{{Metis in Canada}}
{{New France}}{{Multiethnicity}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Metis}}
[[Category:Métis| ]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Canada]]
[[Category:French-speaking ethnicities in Canada]]
[[Category:Multiracial affairs]]
[[Category:Pemmican War]]
[[Category:Fur trade]]
[[Category:American frontier]]
[[Category:Métis history]]