What is/are Metis?

[Abeja de Almirante]

In the years since moving to Canada I've often heard the term Metis used in combination with Aboriginal claims or issues. What are Metis? My thinking is that they are descendants of the matings of French explorers and native women. However, is there are limit to this? If a French person today was to have a child with a native person, is this child considered Metis, or just half-native? On what ideas do Metis found their claims and demands on the Canadian people? Thanks.

 

[Antiloop33rpm]

What are Metis?

Check with your local library. They have a fine selection of books that will be able to answer your question. If libraries are a little too 'socialist' for your liking, try a Chapters or other large retail bookstore.

 

[cdl42]

You could always use Wikipedia, but that's pretty socialist as well, with people working together in order to bypass the capitalist encyclopedia publishers and everything.

So, yeah. Indigo might be the best for you.

 

[ganjavih]

On what ideas do Metis found their claims and demands on the Canadian people? Thanks.

 

[afransen TO]

Come on guys...

 

[adma]

I agree. The Tory/anti-socialist baiting in this particular thread is out of line...

 

[The Burgher of TO]

it's such a nuanced question that you're not going to get an answer off the board. you pretty much have to sit down and do some reading to really get an answer. the short half-truth answer is yes, they're the descendents of french/native pairings, but there's more to it than that. some say that the metis are exclusively mixed blood natives from a particular region (west of the red river), others say the metis came into existance only after a certain time, and still others use a loose definition and include all mixed blood natives (whether the other half of the lineage is english or american or whatever).

 

[afransen TO]

What definition does the government use?

 

[shawnmicallef]

This is archytypal trolling. Any smart neo-con knows how to look things up -- asking publicly like this is trolling. If you can log into an E Z Board, you know how to find out basic Canadian historic information on your own.

 

[afransen TO]

Trolling isn't always bad. If the community is mature enough, it just tends to spark a discussion.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

afransen:

There are more intelligent ways to spark conversations than asking ideologically framed loaded questions, the answers to which could be easily found if one bothers to do some basic research.

AoD

 

[Abeja de Almirante]

On what ideas do Metis found their claims and demands on the Canadian people? Thanks.

Gentlemen, I am not a neocon. I voted for Martin in 2003, and will vote Liberal again as soon as I see IMO the backroom corruption removed. I stated the above question this way purely to indicate that Canada's aborginial claims and demands are against all Canadians. I didn't want to say the "government", because this makes it appear that the funding does not come from all Canadians. That does not make me a neo-con. And I am not trying to bait socialists, or whatever camp you want to place yourself in...why do we have to have camps for everyone?

I had looked up Metis on Wikipedia and other sights before posting here, but didn't see anything about limitations, i.e. why can't someone become Metis today? Let me rephrase my question above...what is the Metis position with the Canadian government vs. other aboriginal groups?

 

[afransen TO]

I think you are all being too harsh.

 

[ganjavih]

Definition of Métis, by the Supreme Court

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

Wow, I wonder what kind of reaction I'd get if someone came to my desk, asked me a question like that, and then I accused them neo-con trolling. Sheesh.