The Métis People

Have you heard of the Métis people?  I had not, until I began reading a mystery series written by Peter Bowen.  The protagonist in a series of 14 books, so far, Gabriel Du Pré is a Métis man in Montana; he is as good as the world allows him to be, doing all sorts of jobs, and he is an exceptional fiddle player.  He plays the "old songs" of the Métis people, he writes his own songs, and he improvises.  He is described the way my Dad used to talk about the older farmers and ranchers he knew, although Gabriel Du Pré lives very much in the present day.
   Who are the Métis?  The Métis live in both Canada and the United States.  They are a mixed race people, and "Métis" means mixed.  The Métis people helped to shape the Canada of today, mainly in terms of the expansion to the west.  The first Métis people were born in Eastern Canada as early as the 1600s.  They were the children born to European fishermen and their Native wives.  However, it was the Red River region, in present day Manitoba, where the Métis Nation was first established.  When the fur trade moved west, in the 1700s and 1800s, many French-Canadian fur traders found Native wive and had children.  The children from these unions formed a new Nation in Canada - the "Western Métis."  Today there are between 350,000 to 400,000 Métis living in Canada.
   The Métis people had/have a distinct way of life that incorporated aspects of both both French-Canadian and Native cultures. The fur traders had married, mainly, women of the Cree, Ojibwa and Saulteaux tribes.  Most of the traders were French and Catholic, and their Métis children were exposed to both the Catholic and Native belief systems.
   The Métis were skilled voyageurs, buffalo hunters, traders and interpreters.  Their understanding of both societies helped bridge cultural gaps, which resulted in better trading relationships.  Over time, the Métis became valuable employees of both fur-trading companies in Canada - the Hudson's Bay Company, which was British, and the North-West Company, which was French.
   Between 1795 and 1815 a network of Métis settlements and trading posts was established throughout what are now Michigan and Wisconsin, and, to a lesser extent, Illinois and Indiana.  As late as 1829, the Métis were dominant in the economy of present-day Wisconsin and northern Michigan.
   During the early days of territorial Michigan, Métis and French played a dominant role in elections. It was largely with Métis support that Gabriel Richard was elected as the delegate to Congress.  After Michigan was admitted as a state and under increased pressure from European-American settlers from eastern states, many Métis migrated west and north.  They went into the Canadian prairies, including the Red River Colony and the Southbranch Settlement.  Others identified with the Chippewa tribe, and some were subsumed in an ethnic French identity.  By the late 1830s, the only area where there was a widespread recognition of the Métis as a part of the community was in Sault Ste. Marie.  Another major Métis settlement was La Baye, located at the present site of Green Bay, Wisconsin. In 1816 the majority of La Baye residents were Métis.
   In Montana, a large group of Métis from the Pembina region hunted there in the 1860s, eventually forming an agricultural settlement in the Judith Basin by 1880.  This settlement eventually disappeared, with most Métis leaving the settlement.
   The Métis are recognized as a Native tribe in Canada, and have their own flag.  They are not recognized as a tribe in the United States - usually being referred to as a "breed."  (How awful!)
   I am very grateful to author Peter Bowen for introducing me to this wonderful race of people!

Vive le Métis!