The forgotten people: approximately 210,000 people in Canada identify themselves as Metis. (Native People--The Metis).

Aboriginal peoples were, without question, the first people to live in what is now called Canada. When Europeans arrived, the First Nations, for the most part, cooperated peacefully as allies and partners in the business of founding the Canadian nation. Out of the Indian and European populations a third culture was created--the Metis. They were the mixed-blood offspring of European fur traders and Indian women from the Cree, Ojibway, or Saulteaux Nations.

With their mixed traditions these people adapted European technology to the wilderness. They devised the Red River Cart and York Boat, making it possible to transport large volumes of goods and supplies to and from the far flung outposts of the fur trade. As people of mixed ancestry increased in number and married amongst themselves, they developed a new culture, neither European nor Indian, but a fusion of the two. They became known as Metis.

By the mid-19th century, Metis villages had appeared in and around fur trading posts from the Great Lakes to the Mackenzie Delta. As European settlement spread westwards conflicts were inevitable. The first violence occurred in what was to become Manitoba.

In 1811, the Hudson's Bay Company made a land grant to Lord Selkirk in the Red River Valley (southern Manitoba). The Scottish settlers tried to restrict Metis hunting and trading practices; battle followed. At Seven Oaks, the Metis killed 21 settlers and suffered only one casualty themselves. After the victory, the flag of the Metis Nation was unfurled for the first time. More skirmishes followed: the Red River Rebellion (1869) and the North-West Rebellion (1885). Louis Riel, who believed he was directed by God to defend the rights of the Metis, played a leading role in both rebellions. But, Riel was captured, found guilty of treason, and hanged in November 1885.

The following years were not good for the Metis people. They were outcasts. White society shunned them and they lived in poverty and isolation. To the Metis, this was a period when the Canadian government tried to make them disappear. The kinder view is that the plan was to assimilate the Metis by having them assume European ways. The uglier interpretation, and one held by many Metis, is that they were victims of genocide.

This is how the process is described by one Metis historian: "First, [there was] the erosion of self-reliance through taking of the land. Next, was an attack on the physical power and health of the people through disease, alcohol, and starvation. Then, came the attack on the people's spirit through religion and stereotyping. It progressed to an attack on our intellectual capacity through education. The law was then used to legalize these processes and respect for this law was obtained through police participation. Once weakening the people, our leaders and governing institutions were ignored and isolated."

By the 1930s, the Metis began to rediscover their voices. The Metis Association of Alberta was formed in 1932 to press for e land title and recognition of rights. Progress was slow--very slow. It took half a century for the Constitution Act of 1982 to acknowledge that the Metis have special rights that must be protected.

But, the Constitution Act didn't say what those "special rights" are, setting up a 20-year struggle to define those rights, which continues today.

However, Steve and Roddy Powley have scored a major victory. In October 1993, Steve Powley and his son Roddy of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario went out hunting. Although they had no licence, they bagged a moose and tagged their catch with a card saying they were Metis. They attached a card reading "Harvesting my meat for winter."

Then, the Powleys were themselves bagged by a Ministry of Natural Resources officer. They were charged with unlawfully hunting moose and being unlawfully in possession of moose meat. Had Steve and Roddy been Ojibway or Huron or members of any other status Indian group there would have been no problem; their right to hunt is guaranteed in the Constitution Act. But, the rights of the Metis are vague, so the Powleys were hauled into court.

The first judge decided that Steve and Roddy Powley had broken no laws. Judge Charles Vaillancourt found that, "Although the province of Ontario recognizes that status Indians have (constitutional) rights to hunt and fish, the Metis have not been accorded similar status. It might very well happen that a Metis person could be denied the right to hunt for food in the interests of conservation, while treaty Indians could continue to hunt. There is no evidence before this court to warrant this disparity between two Aboriginal groups."

That was not good enough for the Mike Harris government, which appealed the decision. Early in 2000, a Superior Court judge agreed with the original trial judge. Still not good enough for Premier Harris, so the case was appealed to the Ontario's highest court.

In February 2001, the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the two earlier decisions. Mr. Justice Robert Sharpe was emphatic in dismissing the claims of the Ontario government that the Metis are not really a distinct people and therefore not entitled to any special rights. He even said racism was involved. "There was considerable evidence," wrote Judge Sharpe, "... that the Metis people have been victims of discrimination, ostracism, and overt hostility from the 19th century forward."

Throughout the court case the Ontario government had refused to sit down and negotiate with the Metis. The Court of Appeal gave it a year to do so, but still Mr. Harris stalled. The National Post quoted him as saying: "We'll continue to push and challenge any groups that threaten proper planning and management of our wildlife ..." (The Ontario government issues permits to sport hunters to kill 35,000 moose annually, while the Metis take only a few hundred each year. At the same time, hunters are allowed to shoot an unlimited number of moose calves.)

The Ontario government clung to its stand that allowing the Metis to hunt all year round without restriction would threaten the moose population. Based on this argument, the three previous court decisions were appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

In the meantime, on 23 February 2002, the ruling of the Ontario Court of Appeal came into effect. For the first time, the Metis people had won recognition as a people by a government in Canada. The Ontario decision doesn't bind other provinces, however, any appeal court decision is looked at carefully everywhere in the country. If the Supreme Court overturns all the previous rulings, the Metis people will be back to square one. Even if the Supreme Court agrees with the Metis position they still have more fights on their hands before winning full recognition as a nation.

"For predominantly Protestant English Ontario in the 19th and even 20th centuries, the Metis were an uncomfortable fit--too French, too Catholic, and too Aboriginal." Tony Belcourt, President of the Metis Nation of Ontario

"Our young men will marry your daughters and we shall be one people." Samuel de Champlain, speaking to Indian leaders in the 17th century

The word Metis comes from old French and means "mixed."

Websites

Metis Nation--http://www.
metisnation.ca/

Metis Resource Centre--http://www.
metisresourcecentre.mb.ca/

The Powley Case--http://
www.metisnation.org/
POW/powSPEC.html

RELATED ARTICLE: Mischif.

As people of European and Indian ancestry married so did their languages. The linguistic offspring is called Michif. It mixes French nouns and noun phrases with the Plains Cree verb system. Towards the east, elements of the Ojibway language get blended in as well. Today, only a few people speak Michif but an effort is underway to save it from vanishing. In 1998, the Metis National Council received funding through Heritage Canada to begin work on the preservation of the Michif language.

RELATED ARTICLE: By any other name.

Metis have been known by Many other names, very few of them spoken in a complimentary way by white people: Half-breeds, Mixed-bloods, Creoles, Voyageurs, Bois brule, Burnt-wood people, Coureurs de bois, Woods runners, Country born, Black Scots, Mestizos, Non-status Indians, the children and families of Mountain Men, and Buckskinners, even Savages.

RELATED ARTICLE: In the middle.

The Metis have been tossed around like a political hot potato. Ottawa has wanted the provinces to take responsibility for them. The provinces, of course, have tried to shift Metis issues off to the federal government. In this way, both levels of government have sidestepped dealing with Metis problems.