Histories of the Metis
1600-1639: Defining the 'People who own Themselves'
The Jesuits claimed: "Not a cape was turned, not a river entered, but a Jesuit led the Way." The People said: The Jesuits (black robes) are damnable liers (liars). Even the most amateur of historian knows the actual explorers of New France (Canada and what was later the United States) were without question the Coureurs de Bois and Metis.
The First People had little desire to "explore" America: They however led the way for the Coureurs de bois and Metis They were fully aware of the four seas to the north/south, east/west, they believed their own location was the best. In the following text, R.D. Garneau addresses the term "Metis" including its origin and usage in the early 1600s.
Metis: Those peoples who were called Bois Brűle, Halfbreed, Country-born, Mixed blood, Michif, Chicot, Mountain Men or even Savages (meaning those who have taken up savage ways). Most folks limit the Metis to Canada and some parts of Northern United States to describe people of mixed North American Indian and Indo-European descent.
The term 'metis' is a French term that refers to a person of half-breed, mongrel, cross-bred, mestizo or metif blood. I used the term 'Metis' as a generic term to refer to a distinct culture for all those people who are born into it or are adopted into this tradition. Biological metis-sage by itself does not determine a person's social, ethnic or political identity. Canadian 'common law' based on Indian tradition suggests those adopted into a culture have equal rights and responsibilities of those within that culture. It is important to remember that no culture is static in nature and evolves over time, hopefully for the better.
The focus of my research however is the North West Algonquian Metis culture as being distinct from the South West Mississippi or Missouri Metis or the other Mixed Blood Peoples of America. The Red River of the North West from a Canadian perspective has been traditionally acclaimed as the cultural apex of the Metis culture. The Metis culture however finds it's apex not in the Red River but in the story of the Grand Kitchi Gami (Lake Superior) also known as the 'Old North West'.
The people of the Grand Kitchi Gami are the Ojibwa that could be identified by their moccasins. It is interesting that the first People of Canada identified their neighbors by cultural traits like their clothing, methods of cooking etc. Europeans use religion, skin color, warlike nature, etc. They use these old world attributes and then attempt to assume the First Nation People used the the same criteria.
Modern historians, political and religious folks still view the People with a European perspective. They still attempt to impose their prevailing system of beliefs and values when viewing other cultures.
What is Metis: Basically it is a cultural tradition based on a premise of First Nation ancestry or adoption into that tradition. The word Metis, is derived by the French, from the Ojibwa word Wissakodewinmi that figuratively means half burnt woodsman, not quite a full fledged woodsman. The Cree called the Metis Oteepaymsoowuk that means their own boss, as distinct from French or English people. The Cree viewed the English as being slaves to their Company. Many were in fact indentured slaves as were the French. The Metis culture evolved from the Coureurs des Bois, Voyager and the Indian cultures. The Voyagers were of two types, the French Voyager pork eaters (mangeur de lard) and the more Metis type Winter Voyager winterer (hivernant) who normally took country wives.
The Jesuit Father Vivier in 1750 first introduced the derogatory term half breed. He believed the very existence of being Metis was against the Laws of God. The English first called the Metis 'those Peddlers' (about 1750) and later called them 'those Canadians'. The French were called 'those French Canadians'. The English would later also adopt the French term Half Breed. The term mixed blood was introduced by the American English during the 1800's treaty process.
The Jesuit also called the Metis, Couriers des Bois meaning illegal runners of the forests but more commonly used the terms savage, heathen or half-breed. The A.F. Ewing Commission of 1935 decided to be Metis, "a person had to either look like an Indian or be able to establish Indian ancestry. They also had to live the life of an ordinary Indian and non-treaty Indians would be included" as Metis. Malcolm Norris a member of the Commission maintained that, "if a person has a drop of Indian blood in his veins and has not assimilated in the social fabric of our civilization he is a Metis." This assimilation assumption is a European belief that is based on paternalistic logic.