Métis Studies
This is a guide for researchers to showcase resources on Métis history, culture, language, genealogy and more.
Books
Métis resources are most often integrated with Canadian history, Indigenous studies, anthropology, and biographical resources. However, a majority of books on the Métis can be found under the FC call number, Canadian History, which is on the 5th floor of the Taylor Family Digital Library.
The Métis and the Use of Identifying Terms
Historically, the Métis (and non-Métis) have used various terms instead of Métis. This can include "Michif," "bois brule," "chicot," "half-breed," "half-blood," "country-born," and "mixed-blood," among others. You may come across these in your research, particularly when finding primary sources.
Strategies for Searching
There are a number of key words or topics to consider when searching for Métis-related materials:
- Métis (or Metis, métis, metis - may be used interchangeably, as spelling/accenting should not affect results)
- Louis Riel
- Gabriel Dumont
- Red River/Red River Settlement
- Rupert's Land
- Hudson's Bay
- North West Company
- Michif
- Metissage
- Manitoba Act
- Battle of Seven Oaks
- Riel Rebellion/Resistance
- Location - the combination of a geographical location + "Métis" can help you narrow your search to a specific community of Métis. Some examples are:
- Red River Métis
- Plains Métis
- Woodlands Métis
One way to utilize these keywords or key terms is to use the subject search in the Library's search database. Under Advanced Search, select "Subject" and input your desired term.
If you find a book in your research that is particularly helpful, you can find the Subjects it is associated with under the book's detailed record. You may click on any of these subject headings to bring you to other related books.
Featured books
These featured books are excellent resources to get started on researching the Métis.
Canada and the Métis, 1869-1885 by Call Number: FC109 .S67 1988ISBN: 9780889209640Publication Date: 2009-08-10"In this book, Professor D.N. Sprague tells why the Métis did not receive the land that was supposed to be theirs under the Manitoba Act.... Sprague offers many examples of the methods used, such as legislation justifying the sale of the land allotted to Métis children without any of the safeguards ordinarily required in connection with transactions with infants. Then there were powers of attorny, tax sales--any number of stratgems could be used, and were--to see that the land intended for the Métis and their families went to others. All branches of the government participated. It is a shameful tale, but one that must be told." -- from the foreword by Thomas R. Berger
Metis Legacy: a Metis historiography and annotated bibliography by Call Number: Z1209.2 .C2 M48 2001ISBN: 9781894717045Publication Date: 2001-01-01From the editors: "The listing includes published papers, journal articles and books as well as unpublished theses, dissertations and working papers from a variety of organizations. The collection also contains references to fiction, poetry and plays written about the Metis and a large number of children's storybooks. Video and audio portrayals of Metis stories and music are included at the end of the bibliography. This compendium also contains photographic depictions of Metis material culture."
Metis Legacy II: Michif culture, heritage, and folkways by Call Number: FC109 .M48 2006ISBN: 9780920915806Publication Date: 2006-01-01From the editors: "This book gives a brief overview of Metis folkways, material culture, languages, mythology, cuisine, and medicines. Where appropriate, we have given the Michif, French or Cree descriptive terms. Metis collective identity encompasses traditional teachings, familial structures, prescribed roles, and rites of passage. The criteria for the inclusion of an item or entry in this volume was that three or more Metis Elders from different widely-dispersed communities reported the practice or belief."
From new peoples to new nations : aspects of Métis history and identity from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries by Call Number: FC109 .E66 2016ISBN: 9781442627116Publication Date: 2016-01-01From New Peoples to New Nations is a broad historical account of the emergence of the Metis as distinct peoples in North America over the last three hundred years. Examining the cultural, economic, and political strategies through which communities define their boundaries, Gerhard J. Ens and Joe Sawchuk trace the invention and reinvention of Metis identity from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Their work updates, rethinks, and integrates the many disparate aspects of Metis historiography, providing the first comprehensive narrative of Metis identity in more than fifty years.
Books
Métis by Call Number: FC109 .A53 2014ISBN: 9780774827218Publication Date: 2014-05-12Ask any Canadian what "Métis" means, and they will likely say "mixed race." Canadians consider Métis mixed in ways that other Indigenous people are not, and the census and courts have premised their recognition of Métis status on this race-based understanding. Andersen argues that Canada got it wrong. From its roots deep in the colonial past, the idea of Métis as mixed has slowly pervaded the Canadian consciousness until it settled in the realm of common sense. In the process, "Métis" has become a racial category rather than the identity of an Indigenous people with a shared sense of history and culture.
The Metis: Memorable Events and Memorable Personalities by Call Number: FC 109 .G68 2006ISBN: 1894638980Publication Date: 2006-01-01From the author: "The focus of this book is on these Métis of the Métis Nation and their fascinating role in the history of Canada. Accordingly special emphasis has been placed on the fur trade that occurred in the area of land from Hudson Bay and northern Canada in the north to the Great Lakes in the south and westward to the Pacific Coast where it extended from the border of Alaska in the north to the San Francisco area in the south."
Métis in Canada by ISBN: 9780888646408Publication Date: 2013-05-31These twelve essays constitute a groundbreaking volume of new work prepared by leading scholars in the fields of history, anthropology, constitutional law, political science, and sociology, who identify the many facets of what it means to be Métis in Canada today. After the Powley decision in 2003, Métis people were no longer conceptually limited to the historical boundaries of the fur trade in Canada. Key ideas explored in this collection include identity, rights, and issues of governance, politics, and economics. The book will be of great interest to scholars in political science and native studies, the legal community, public administrators, government policy advisors, and people seeking to better understand the Métis past and present. Contributors: Christopher Adams, Gloria Jane Bell, Glen Campbell, Gregg Dahl, Janique Dubois, Tom Flanagan, Liam J. Haggarty, Laura-Lee Kearns, Darren O'Toole, Jeremy Patzer, Ian Peach, Siomonn P. Pulla, Kelly L. Saunders.
Contours of a People by ISBN: 0806188170Publication Date: 2012-01-01What does it mean to be Metis? How do the Metis understand their world, and how do family, community, and location shape their consciousness? Such questions inform this collection of essays on the northwestern North American people of mixed European and Native ancestry who emerged in the seventeenth century as a distinct culture. Volume editors Nicole St-Onge, Carolyn Podruchny, and Brenda Macdougall go beyond the concern with race and ethnicity that takes center stage in most discussions of Metis culture to offer new ways of thinking about Metis identity. Geography, mobility, and family have always defined Metis culture and society. The Metis world spanned the better part of a continent, and a major theme of Contours of a People is the Metis conception of geography--not only how Metis people used their environments but how they gave meaning to place and developed connections to multiple landscapes.These efforts, and the cultural practices that emerged from them, have contributed to a sense of community and the nationalist sentiment felt by many Metis today.
The New Peoples: being and becoming Metis in North America by Call Number: FC109 .N48 1985ISBN: 9780887556173Publication Date: 1985-01-01A collection of papers presented at a 1981 conference on the Metis in North America that focus on understanding the Metis as an Aboriginal people emerging from post-European contact. This book centers on the origins, problems and culture of various groups of Metis people in a broader perspective.
From Rupert's Land to Canada by Call Number: E78 .C2 F725 2001 c. 2ISBN: 0888643632Publication Date: 2001-05-01Dr. John E. Foster spent many years researching and interpreting the Metis, continually re-examining his own thinking about the fur trade and the West, trying to find new lines of inquiry across disciplinary boundaries, and, playing with ideas that re-imagined the Canadian West. In From Rupert's Land to Canada, in tribute to John's work, his friends and colleagues further explore themes related to "Native History and the Fur Trade," "Metis History," and the "Imagined West". Contributors include Michael Payne, Nicole St-Onge, Jan Grabowski, Jennifer Brown, Heather Rollason, Frits Pannekoek, Heather Devine, Gerhard Ens, Gerry Friesen, Ted Binnema, Ian MacLaren, Rod Macleod, Tom Flanagan and Glen Campbell.
Metis and the Medicine Line: creating a border and dividing a people by Call Number: E99 .M47 H64 2015 c. 1ISBN: 9780889773806Publication Date: 2015-01-01Metis and the Medicine Line tells the remarkable story of the Plains Metis and the birth of the Canada/U.S. border, brought vividly to life by history writing at its best. Exploring the borderland world of the prairies, Michel Hogue reveals how notions of race were created and manipulated to unlock access to Indigenous lands, while challenging Canada's peaceful settlement story of the West. Grounded in extensive research, the book also illuminates a hidden history of violence that created the "world's longest undefended border."
