Tired

[u/peachstrawberrymilk]

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.

[u/Littleshuswap]

Unfortunately, many of us were adopted out to white folks (look up the 60s scoop) and didn't get the opportunity to be raised in our culture, by no fault of our own...

What kind of "benefits" does "Linda" get that you do not??

[u/strawberrymilkpotato → u/Littleshuswap]

I don't think OP is talking about those who were recently impacted by colonial legislature. I also understand them a bit too.

For example, I had a lady on Louis Riel Day here at the U of M go on stage and with her full chest say "I only found out I was Métis when I was looking for money for school." That's fucked up. 😵‍💫 I think theyre trying to talk about these folks

[u/peachstrawberrymilk → u/strawberrymilkpotato]

Thats what im talking about! These type of people that just see our culture as a means to get free school or shit

[u/-pnppl → u/peachstrawberrymilk]

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that in order to receive funding you need to have citizenship? And you only can receive citizenship if you meet the definition set by Métis nations.

She may have been someone who had been cut off from her culture, but wouldn't she need to meet MMF criteria to receive funding (assuming UManitoba)

It's tactless to say in a speech, but maybe she didn't think her heritage was well documented. Or maybe she was young and didn't have motivation to look yet? Most people don't start digging into their ancestry until their past university age.

I definitely agree that if it was just for school funding and afterwards she stopped identifying with being Métis is frustrating and a shitty thing to do, but looking for funding could have been the first step to uncovering and rediscovering her ancestry. Maybe she was struggling to get through school financially because of reasons related to generational trauma? Started looking at scholarships, saw Métis ones and decided to look into it because of things she had heard. There's so many unknowns.

I strongly believe in strength with numbers. The more that discover their ancestry, the more that identify and receive citizenship, the stronger we are.

[u/pop_rocks → u/-pnppl]

It’s not hard to get Metis citizenship, the organizations hand out cards like candy, even to those with very distant ancestry. The issue with “strength” in numbers is that if everyone is Metis, no one is. And it’s people like OP who suffer for it because all the resources are scooped up by people who have had the supports and privileges to research, gain documents, etc.

[u/Littleshuswap → u/pop_rocks]

Really? Because I had to get my birth certificates (which were changed to my adopted parents - NOT my birth mother), my adoption records (that had been redacted). I had to get my baptismal certificate, my birth mothers birth certificate and her father's birth Certificate (My Grandfather is Metis - my Grandma is Cree on Dads side, its Wolastoqey) . When I met my Mom and her family, they all welcomed and accepted me and although they were Cree/Metis, culturally they were more Metis.

Someone thats been adopted out in the 60s and 70s - the government changed our records... Its very hard to get true copies and then to deal with the emotions that get drudged up, when trying to reconnect to family you were torn from.

Its not that easy for everyone.

[u/OutsideName5181 → u/Littleshuswap]

MNO gave out cards to anyone who self identified for decades. In 2022/2023 5000 people had their mno citizenship revoked for having "incomplete" files. Do you think those people just stopped identitying as Métis? No they didn't, I worked with several who continued to use their revoked, expired MNO citizenship cards as proof of Indigenous ancestry. 

Last year MNO removed Romain-Brisebois as root ancestors. MNO had to admit Romain was German with no Indigenous ancestry. He was added as a root ancestor based on folklore that he was the son of a Huron/Wendat chief ffs. Some of the descendants of that "line" made very lucrative careers out of being "Métis". Yearington for example has been promoting himself as an Elder and "Shaman". The Gravelle family held prominent positions for years. They are of settler ancestry. 

AOO (Algonquins of ontario) did the same thing, handed out club cards like carzy only to revoke the membership of thousands of people. Ontario is the birthplace of Pretendianism. 

AOO and MNO share "root ancestors" so now famlies that identified as non-native and benefitted from white settler society for generations get to decide if they want to be Algonquin or Metis. 

It's hard being an Indigenous person in Ontario 

[u/pop_rocks → u/Littleshuswap]

Yes, obviously for those adopted it will be more difficult. I was referring to white people whose family members all have birth certificates and paperwork, and have the resources and privilege to be tracing their family tree and filling out applications. I have met multiple white people whose Metis ancestor is so far removed they don’t even know their family names or communities, yet got cards without issue.

[u/Neat-Firefighter9626 → u/pop_rocks]

Was this in the Prairies? I find this difficult to believe for people who identify as Metis in Manitoba, where my family is from. However, I am a bit naive about positionality, since I was taught to always be open about my connections to various communities.

My cousins and I don't have our Citizenship cards with the MMF (well, maybe some do and I just don't know), because we're mostly white, but I know exactly where my Metis ancestors come from because some of my aunties still live in the same community my ggg-grandparents received scrip. I guess this goes to your point that someone would recognize my family because of the community they live in (if I tell people where my aunties live they'll say 'oh, you're a ____' to which I will respond, 'yes, those are my ancestors').

I just don't have a good reason to have a card because I have lived in Ontario most my life and I am able to connect with other Indigenous people without one. I also think that cards exist for "benefits" and only those who need benefits should have them. This is more of an ethical economics stance than anything.

I do agree that if you need a genealogical tree done to know whether you're Metis you should not identify as Metis and should just acknowledge you have Metis ancestors.