From 'Great Lakes Metis' to 'Aboriginal People of Canada': The Changing Identity of Canadian Metis During the Eighteenth, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Abstract

Many interrelated factors affect the formation of Metis identity including cultural, historical, socio-economic, and political processes (Dunn n.d.). Giraud's work Le Metis canadien: son role dans I'histoire des provinces de I'Ouest, published in 1945, was the first comprehensive scholarly history of the Metis people of western Canada. Eurocentric sentiments influenced the early studies of Metis identity and often assessed Metis social evolution with reference to European societies (Miller 1985). This paper examines Metis identity from the eighteenth century, when the Great Lakes Metis were described as a "people in the process of becoming" (Peterson 1985), to more recently, as the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples brings Aboriginal views into perspective, and emphasizes the importance of culture as a defining aspect of a community. The human processes associated with the formation and recognition of Metis identity are dynamic and unique to each community. The literature demonstrates that Metis identity has usually been defined and assigned by non-Metis people and agencies. Originally serving to identify French speaking, mixed descent individuals of the Red River Settlement, this term has evolved to define the descendants of Metis parents residing in very diverse communities throughout Canada today.