Métis Is a Peoplehood, Not a Fraction

The Métis are one of the most misunderstood Indigenous groups in Canada, and the confusion often arrives as arithmetic: half European, half First Nation. That description is erroneous. Métis peoplehood comes from a shared history, political will, cultural traditions and kinship networks that predate colonial boundaries — a people, not a racial sum. The Canadian Constitution recognizes Métis among the Aboriginal peoples of Canada. The article written from within the community insists on being described in its own terms rather than in categories imposed from outside, which is less a matter of manners than of who gets to define a nation.