Blog Post by: Gerry Rodriguez
 
The Metis are descendants of marriages of Cree, Inuit, Ojibway, Algonquin, Saulteaux, Menominee, and other indigenous peoples to Europeans and other ethnicities from around the world, and are one of three officially-recognized Aboriginal peoples in Canada, the other two being the First Nations and Inuit. Commonly pronounced /ˈmeɪtiː/ "MAY-tee" or "may-TEE" in English ^[3], IPA: [meˈtsɪs] in Quebec French, [meˈtis] in Standard French,^[4] [mɪˈtʃɪf] in Michif, they are also historically known as Bois Brûlé, mixed-bloods, or Countryborn (Anglo-Métis). Their homeland consists of the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario, as well as the Northwest Territories. The Métis homeland also includes parts of the northern United States (specifically Montana, North Dakota, and northwest Minnesota).^[5]
 
Their history dates to the mid-seventeenth century. The Métis spoke or still speak either Métis French or a mixed language called Michif. Michif, Mechif or Métchif is a phonetic spelling of the Métis pronunciation of Métif, a variant of Métis. The Métis today predominantly speak English, with French a strong second language, as well as numerous Aboriginal tongues. Métis French is best preserved in Canada, Michif in the United States, notably in the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation of North Dakota, where Michif is the official language of the Métis that reside on this Chippewa reservation. The encouragement and use of Métis French and Michif is growing due to outreach within the provincial Métis councils after at least a generation of decline.
 
The word Métis (the singular, plural and adjectival forms are the same) is French, and a cognate of the Spanish word mestizo. It carries the same connotation of "mixed race"; traced back far enough it stems from the Latin word mixtus, the past participle of the verb "to mix".
Over time, countless Métis are thought to have been absorbed and assimilated into the surrounding populations making Métis heritage (and thereby aboriginal ancestry) more common than sometimes realized.
 
A common misconception is that the M&eacute;tis practised only the religion of their fathers (Catholicism or Protestantism).<sup style="white-space: nowrap;" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources since April 2008">[citation needed]</sup> However, the spiritual mixture of the M&eacute;tis is in actuality as complex as the people who make up the nation.
 
Early on, M&eacute;tis children absorbed the teachings of both their parents. Those teachings were made up of the father's religious background and the traditional teachings of the First Nation of the mother. M&eacute;tis children thereby learned to live in both the Aboriginal and European worlds, encompassing both in their spirituality.
 
Today M&eacute;tis practise many forms of religion, from mainline Christianity to New Age concepts and everything in between. From their Catholicism they have St. Joseph, the Patron Saint of M&eacute;tis people. From their Aboriginal relatives, they incorporate the sweat lodge, medicine wheel, sacred pipe, and long house ceremonies, as well as many other Aboriginal spiritual beliefs. It is very common to encounter a prayer and a smudge at the opening and closing of meetings of M&eacute;tis people.
 
Many M&eacute;tis peoples, as with other Aboriginal communities, have lost their spiritual connections to the past because of marginalization, poverty, and decimation of their communities and their way of life. However, in modern times, renewal of spirituality occurs among many M&eacute;tis.
 
Legal definition
 
There is substantial controversy and disagreement over who exactly is M&eacute;tis. Unlike First Nations people, there is no distinction between status and non-status M&eacute;tis. The legal definition itself is not yet fully developed. S.35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 makes mention of the M&eacute;tis stating:like

• 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 M&eacute;tis peoples of Canada.

 
However, s.35(2)does not provide a definition of who is M&eacute;tis. Until R. v. Powley (2003), there was little development in such a definition. The case involved a claim by members of the Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario community asserting M&eacute;tis hunting rights. The Supreme Court of Canada outlined three broad factors to identify M&eacute;tis rights-holders:^[6]

• self-identification;
• ancestral connection to a historic M&eacute;tis community; and
• community acceptance.

 
All three factors must be present for an individual to qualify under the legal definition of M&eacute;tis, but there is still ambiguity. Questions about what constitutes a historic M&eacute;tis community and what is sufficient proof of an ancestral connection (there is no blood quantum requirement) have not yet been answered by the courts.