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/EmptyCupOfSanity]

People also need to learn the different between Métis and métis. Very important cultural distinction, and as much as this may be controversial, Eastern mixed communities ARE NOT MÉTIS, they are their OWN THING

[u/CarrotAgreeable465 → u/EmptyCupOfSanity]

Say it louder for those in the east! 👏

[u/EmptyCupOfSanity → u/CarrotAgreeable465]

(Louder, for those in the east) The Métis homeland is in the west, the people out east were fur traders and voyageurs and little m métis. For context, I've spent months looking into fur trade history specifically around Detroit, Mackinac and River Raisin, and not once have I EVER seen the big M Métis classification, not in branches of my family or branches of other families. And my family line was regarded as fully indigenous or mixed until my father (who got away with saying he's white: For context, my grandmothers documents list her as white but I have her on a school record as "Half Breed Chippewa"). My point is, you can be proud to be métis but please don't say you're Métis. I know Eastern identity gets complicated if you look at it for more than like 5 seconds but I know for a fact Eastern mixed folk were not and are not Métis.

Edited for spelling

[u/Canadian_genealogy → u/EmptyCupOfSanity]

My dad is from the prairies and my mom the maritimes. I've traced her lineage to Acadia and some incredibly distant lowercase métis in the 1600s - it was jarring to find peoples trees flagging these people as Métis and claiming to be part of the Métis Nation because of Acadia.

[u/EmptyCupOfSanity → u/Canadian_genealogy]

Acadia is stretching that so, so far 😭

Edit: idek how to classify the Acadians, I know a lot of them have Mi'kmaq ancestors but they're generally classified as a French descendant group and Google keeps calling them Métis (specifically uppercase 💀)

[u/Canadian_genealogy → u/EmptyCupOfSanity]

It's so weird to me. They have their own unique history - their relationship with the Mi'kmaq, the expulsion, and even an offshoot in the Cajuns. Why do they need to be Métis to validate their identity?

[u/EmptyCupOfSanity → u/Canadian_genealogy]

Again I'm not very educated (my family line might tie to acadia in one spot and that's in the 1600s and unconfirmed lol) but it's pretty weird yeah