What are the qualifiers to be a Metis?

[Leifer]

Were they specifically the offspring of the french and the native tribes specifically in the canadian areas or did the term go for anyone in the fur trade who were the offspring as the result of "country marriages"?

The reason I ask is that when my family does living history with me it's specific to Fort Union. We're slowly putting together what will likely be an Assinboine persona for my wife. I'm curious what direction we go with for our kids. I've got twin daughters, (3 1/2) and a son who will be a year old in January.

Leifer

[Rod]

It's more or less a term that today denotes a culture more than anything----one can be, say, Chippewa and Norwegian (as the Episcopal Bishop of North Dakota is...and he calls himself and family 'Chippewegians') and not neccesarily be thought of as métis; ie., one can identify more with one culture or another, while the métis think of themselves as métis, not Ojibwe or French although they have strong aspects of both (and Cree, etc.).

Just to confuse things further, the country offspring of the predominantly English/Scottish/Orkney employees of the HBC sometimes referred to themselves as 'English Indians', to differentiate themselves from the children of French/Native unions. One can get into the whole NWC/HBC highly regimented class structure there, with those with ancestory from the British Isles having a better chance of moving up in the company rather than those with fathers from Quebec. The French Quebecois engagés were common labor, and their sons had little chance of improving that (and therefore tended to leave the company to go on their own hook, and had closer ties with their mother's people), while the sons of English or Scottish clerks or Orkney laborers might follow in their father's footsteps with the company.

A couple of excellent books on the subject, albeit aimed more at the Canadian side of things, are Van Kirk, Many Tender Ties; and Brown, Strangers in Blood.

Rod

[Leifer]

They're both available on Amazon Prime....crap...suppose I'm going to have to get them now.....

[isaac]

Current scholarship differentiates between Métis and métis. Lower case métis simply means "mixed race." This can technically be of any mixing of Euro and Native. Capital M Métis refers to métis that have created their own culture that is a metissage of the parent cultures with local adaptations as well.

IW

[Duane]

I believe that here in Canada that if you can prove that you are at least 1/8 native then you are concidered Metis,many of the metis that I have know have french last names,and of course many have the name Potts as well from Gerry Potts..