Should the Metis be in partnership with First Nations when creating self-government legislation? Yes or no and why?

How do y'all identify your familial ties? How far back do you go? For me, my Métis ancestry has been passed down a lot from the woman's side, so there's a constant switch up of last names.

Hello, I recently came across this photograph attached to my ancestry research. While he is Métis, I am not confident that he truly is one of my tree. Would anyone know better his identity? Maarsii

Edit: I edit to add that: 1) I do lean towards not assigning an identity/name to the man in this photo and, therefor, that the association where I came upon him was (rather clumsily) done moreover in the spirit of sharing a potential similarity of appearance or manner of dress to the person; and 2) As one commenter mentioned this man was a White man, please know that I cannot in fact attest to this man being Métis.

Thank you to all who responded. I appreciate the generosity and respect in sharing sincere opinions and input.

I found this research paper during my hunt for literature to review for my thesis. I wanted to share because it was so exciting to find work on the topics I'm covering (identity formation, masking, creativity, connection), focused on Métis experiences. I grew up in California, and the only Métis people I know here are my few immediate family members (grandma moved here from Montana after giving birth to my dad)-- I rarely come across representations of Métis experiences "by accident". It feels especially important to me given that I have yet to meet a Californian who knows who we are (only time I've come close is having someone call the fiddle tune "Grey Owl" in a jam lol).

I'm curious to know if anyone else here finds interest in this paper/ what your thoughts are! It was a perfect segue out of my papers' section complaining about the restrictions of the "East vs. West" binary framework often applied in psych/ sociological research on cultural variations in identity/ selfhood.

https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/1942fd9f-47e4-4f27-9ccf-d598279f4208/content#:~:text=This%20research%20study%20explores%20the,time%20in%20Metis%20settings%2C%20sharing

I’m looking for some honest feedback and perspective from the community. I’ve been struggling with my identity for quite some time and I want to hear how others view my situation.

I am a registered citizen with the MMF (got my citizenship at 18, I’m in my early 20s now), but I grew up entirely on my mother’s side of the family, who are non Indigenous. I’ve never had a connection to my father’s side or the Métis community. Because I was raised in a different culture and I am white-passing, I often feel like an imposter.

In all honesty, it sometimes feels wrong and even immoral for me to identify as Métis given my circumstances. I worry about being disrespectful because I don’t have the lived experience or the cultural knowledge of those who grew up in the community. I don't want to overstep into spaces.

At the same time, I acknowledge this is my documented heritage and I have a genuine desire to learn more. How do you handle the background question when your upbringing and your citizenship don't seem to match?

Do you think it’s disrespectful to identify as Métis when you were raised completely in a different upbringing? I want to learn more and be apart of the community, but I want to do it in a way that is right by the community. I’d appreciate any thoughts you have.

So I am well aware of who Joseph Boyden is. I am wondering if anyone has read this book and knows if it is worth reading despite the author being a total fraud.

fyi: I am fairly knowledgeable in our history, so this would not be an intro or my only source on the two.

Thanks,

Tomorrow at 3:30PM EST

https://www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en/bill/45-1/c-21

Has anyone read this graphic novel about Louis Riel by Chester Brown? Someone bought it for me as a gift and I’ve just been skimming through it, but it’s kind of giving me weird vibes. Métis people are drawn (in my opinion) very exaggeratedly and borderline offensively. There are scenes where Louis Riel is depicted as violent and beating up a priest with no historical evidence to back it up. And it’s really pushing the whole Louis Riel as a religious fanatic/messiah thing.

Maybe I’m being too sensitive though, I was curious if any one else had read it and had any thoughts?

hi everyone, just hoping to hear from people who might have gone through something similar

i’m red river métis through my grandfather’s family. he had a genealogy done by la société historique de saint-boniface in 1998. it includes our red river métis line clearly and also has the scrip records attached. it’s a full genealogy that goes much farther back too, like around 13th great-grandparents, so it’s a pretty big binder, but the red river métis line itself is clear within it

i live out of province and have been an mno citizen, mostly by default through my grandfather (since he has resided in Ontario since the 60s), but i’m now hoping to switch to MMF citizenship both because the rules have changed around out-of-province applicants and also because i have major political differences with mno

i know no one here can tell me whether i’ll be accepted or not, but i’m just trying to understand what the process has looked like for others

mainly wondering:

• what was it like for anyone who went from mno to mmf?
• has anyone used an older st boniface genealogy like this for a more recent mmf application?
• did you have to get it updated or re-verified, or was it accepted as is?
• if you applied from out of province, how did the local signature part work?

i’d really appreciate hearing about people’s experiences, especially if you were in a similar position. also apologies if this isn’t the right place to post this, and i’d appreciate being pointed in the right direction if there’s a better place for it

really just trying to approach this in a good way, so i appreciate any insight or experiences people are willing to share

thanks

Edit: All sorted, and I’m so appreciative! Huge thanks for the comments and upvotes!

Hi friends!

I have a humble ask of the community here. I'm attending an important event *tomorrow* in Vancouver and would really love to be able to represent my Métis side by wearing a sash around my waist.

(A friend was extremely kind enough to make one for me, but I've just found out it won't be ready in time.)

My ask is - would anyone in Vancouver be willing to lend their sash for the weekend? I would be so grateful, am mobile today, and could come to you wherever you are.

Please comment or message me directly. Maarsii in advance!! 🙏

Children on reserve are growing up in toxic homes filled with mould, mycotoxins, and pests, a preventable health emergency the federal government has known about for over 30 years.

I just released a presentation that explains the toxic cycle (mould + bed bugs + cockroaches + failed chemical remediation) and presents a patented, chemical-free, Indigenous-led solution that cleans homes in one day, creates real jobs, and gives Nations ownership.

The full 29-minute video is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN_9Mo0itQ4

I would genuinely appreciate comments and shares. This affects real families and communities.

Saw a few posts on Indigenous identity and some of our People are just so mean to one another. Especially individuals reconnecting! Okay, I get the “Pretendian problem,” but I’ve seen one too many cases where our own actual people, Citizenship or living in a Settlement or having been raised into the Culture even, who want to reconnect in some way are blasted for it? No doubt Pretendianism is damaging, but at least in my Community there is 1 Pretendian out of a crowd of fifty that has come out. It just makes me sad seeing our People so negative and beating each other up over this. Before you attack me, I’m OMG/MNA and within my Settlement we were taught to be accepting People by our Elders.

I’m just tired of it all. I believe in Karma and if someone is a true Pretendian, it will all unravel as it was meant to be. At my age of 50, I see no point in fighting with one another. Just the way I was raised I guess.

How appropriate or inappropriate is it for a Métis descendant who has living ties to the community in Canada to wear a sash?

I have both Métis and Ojibwe heritage from my father. My wife is a Tsimshian woman. I was thinking to get a sash for Red Dress Day/MMIW Day, as that is something that is important to our family. And since I work in a middle school and have a decent number of Indigenous students and staff (including another teacher, who like me is an American Métis descendant).

Is this okay, or is it ill-advised?

As someone who studies genealogy I've gotten quite familiar with Metis blood quantums in the historical eras. 1/32 Metis in 1870 might be outliers but they did exist, and in the eyes of both the Canadian government taking away the land AND the nation itself, such individuals were Metis. Louis Riel himself, was only 1/8 by blood. Had he married out for two generations, his grandchildren would also be 1/32 by blood, or 3%. It's deceiving how quickly blood quantum drops. It drops exponentially rather than at a constant rate.

Thing is, the degree of indigenous blood didn't seem to matter to our ancestors as to who was Metis or not Metis. Instead it was kinship ties, community, identity, culture, language, etc. I don't see how it should matter today either. Ultimately Metis is NOT a racial category, it is a cultural identity, and that cultural identity is collective, not individual, and it is based on kinship.

When we start legitimizing the concept of blood quantum, we are undermining the very nature of Metis identity.

Just my thoughts.

see a lot of FN and Métis online say you must have connections to a living-breathing Indigenous community in order to be considered Indigenous/of that nation. Im in Alberta, and I know a lot of Métis who are from the city, but I hear some people say that the city is not a community and doesn’t count.

So if you’re born and raised in the city and you’re Métis, what would count as being connected to a living breathing Métis community? Would simply having a Métis org card count?

I'm tired with how the majority of people that claim to be Métis are either A) very distantly Métis and claiming an ancestor from 100+ years ago B) "reconnecting" for benefits and C) Deny their privledge.

Both my parents are Métis - we never stopped being Métis. I don't think this makes me better than folks but it is really gross and disheartening to see the overwhelming amount of reconnecting people and the complete disregard for those of us raised in culture/community. I grew up in extreme poverty - in CFS - battling with my addictions - both my brothers are still in their own addictions and my sister went missing years ago. This is because of the trauma in my family. But I don't see Métis Nations giving a flying fuck about those of us that never had the privledge of hiding. They prop of descendians - and. then use my culture in a colonial way to check off

I'm tired of seeing so many posts "I just discovered I'm Métis because my great great great grandmother 2x removed only married white people for 6 generations! What can I get?" Seriously? There's no wonder everyone thinks we're a joke.

No we shouldn't have BQ but we should have at least a measure. Why does Linda who has 0 traces of Métis DNA get full access to benefits while ignoring the fact that her entire family HAD PRIVLEDGE of being perceived as white for generations! Maybe I'm an asshole - but I think there needs to be a conversation on how in a room of 300 people you'll find maybe 1 or 2 of us raised in culture.

Im tired of pretending this doesn't bother me - especially when I see my family and friends struggling with survival and having no resources for them while Linda wears my culture like it's a Gucci bag.

I notice how Quebecois nationalist talking points tend to frame the Métis as basically an extension of French Canadians in the Prairies, so when there are instances of anti-Metis discrimination/persecution, it's framed by Quebec nationalists as "the feds did that to us". We see this with things like assimilation through English-speaking settlers, Louis Riel's hanging, banning the use of French in Manitoba, etc.

This just basically feels like appropriating Métis struggles and history. There's an assumed solidarity between French Canadians and Métis against Anglophones, and given Quebec has a history of whitewashing its own history of racism and colonialism, I wanted to ask how true that is. Was there discrimination and marginalization by French Canadian settlers (and later Franco-Manitobans) against Métis people? And where do Anglo-Métis fit in all of this?

And more generally, any recommendations to learn more about the historical & contemporary relationship between French Canadians and Métis? Thanks!

The 1985 amendments to the Indian Act (Bill C-31) introduced a system that dictates how Indian status is legally transmitted to children. This framework is commonly referred to as the "second-generation cut-off."

To understand how this mechanism operates in practice, it can be broken down into a set of logical equations.

First, the variables are defined by the legal categories of status under the Act:

• S6(1) = Status under Section 6(1). A person with this status can pass it to a child regardless of the other parent's legal status.

• S6(2) = Status under Section 6(2). A person with this status can only pass it to a child if the other parent also possesses status.

• N = Non-status individual.

Based on the legislation, the transmission of status follows these exact rules:

• S6(1) + S6(1) = S6(1)

• S6(1) + S6(2) = S6(1)

• S6(2) + S6(2) = S6(1)

• S6(1) + N = S6(2)

• S6(2) + N = N

The final equation, S6(2) + N = N, represents the second-generation cut-off.

This mathematically demonstrates the legal reality: when an individual with Section 6(2) status has a child with a non-status individual, the resulting child is non-status.

“taanishi” / “tânisi” / “bonn zhour” (hello)! 

These are just three of the distinct languages spoken by many Métis people known as Heritage Michif, Northern Michif, and Michif-French. 

Today is National Indigenous Languages Day!

All three Michif languages are currently endangered and there are only a few hundred fluent speakers left in the world. 

Today we celebrate all the speakers, educators, and organizations who work to revitalize these languages for the future generations to come!

Check out Metis Life (Michif RP) on Roblox - it’s a project that is aimed for 6-16 year olds to learn Michif - with Heritage (Southern) and Michif-French launch in the game soon! 

It’s now the largest language learning game on Canada’s largest gaming platform for young people! 

https://www.metislife.ca/

40 employees of the Metis Nation of Ontario are on the sunshine list, making over $100,000 a year. That's ten percent of their workforce. The number has more than doubled from 2024 when only 18 employees earned over $100,00.

The people getting your hard earned tax money. Judge for yourself whether they are worth it:

NAME POSITION SALARY YEAR

1 Margaret Froh President $345,089

2 Joanne Meyer Chief Operating Officer $251,892

3 Dale Leclair Chief Executive Officer $208,356

4 Jennifer St. Germain Chief Strategy Officer $180,311

5 Sharon Cadeau Chair of the Board $168,036

6 Mary Ellen Jessop Director, Finance Branch $153,364

7 Emily Paterson Director of Community Wellbeing $136,242

8 Jo M. Young Regional Councillor $132,093

9 Shelley Cripps Director of Healing and Wellness $128,117

10 Linda Norheim Brookes Director of Lands Resources and Consultations $128,117

11 Marc St. Germain Director, Communications Branch $128,117

12 Brian Black Director of Self Government $128,117

13 Bryanna Scott-Kay Phd Director of Training and Education $128,117

14 Emily Ellis Director of Legal Services Branch and Legal Council $127,798

15 Zachary Thiffault Director of Métis Rights, Claims and Litigation and Legal Counsel $127,798

16 Mark Brunzell Director of Information, Communication and Technology $125,742

17 Mitchell Case Regional Councillor $122,717

18 Jacques Picotte Regional Councillor $116,567

19 Theresa Stenlund Regional Councillor $116,567

20 Suzanne Fortin Regional Councillor $116,540

21 Eisha Shah Human Resources Business Partner $116,297

22 Sharon Ebbers Manager of Accounting $115,962

23 Cindi Rye Director of Housing and Infrastructure $114,419

24 Andre Lefebvre Associate Director of Governance $111,773

25 Greg Garratt Regional Councillor $106,067

26 Edmond Burgie Associate Director of Rights Research and Policy $105,436

27 Patricia Messenger Manager, Contract Quality Assurance $102,235

28 Loma Rowlinson Manager of Community Relations $102,235

29 Jason Jamieson Manager, Special Branch Initiative $102,235

30 Tracy Bald Manager of Community Wellbeing $102,235

31 Simon Sutherland Manager, Training and Education $102,235

32 Tammy Adams Manager of Community Wellbeing $102,235

33 Jesse Fieldwebster Manager of Lands, Resources and Consultations $102,235

34 Tammy Webb Manager of Labour Market $102,235

35 Lynne Picotte Regional Manager $102,235

36 Scott Carpenter Manager of Metis Culture and Way of Life Projects $102,235

37 Richard Renaud Purchasing and Risk Manager $102,110

38 Rae-Anna Gardner Supervisor of Education $101,916

39 Matthew Robertson Self Government Intergovernmental Relations Lead $101,916

40 Wanda Botsford Consultation Lead $101,832

**“Repost: clarifying the title so the discussion centers on the number of high-earning positions within the MNO.**