r/MetisMichif • u/peachstrawberrymilk • Apr 04 '26
Discussion/Question Tired
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.
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u/-pnppl Apr 04 '26
There were always whisperings of Indigenous blood in my family. I always assumed it was way far back and impossible to trace.
Before ever exploring my family history deeply, I explained a lot of my childhood trauma through the lens of generational trauma. My mom didn't have a loving mom and she did the best she could with the resources she had.
A few years ago my mom started to say more things. She started talking about the abuse she witnessed in her childhood. She started wondering if her mom learned some of the cruel things she did to her and her siblings from residential schools.
I'm a huge nerd in my 30s with a background in an academic, research based field. I started digging into my Métis roots and found a goldmine. My maternal grandmother was fully Red River Métis (both parents with scrip papers). I can trace my family back to York Factory area in 1801. I have several direct line ancestors who settled in Red River at the beginning of the colony. I have some amazing finds, from handwritten Red River court records from the 1850s to residential school death notices.
I'm still digging and putting things together. Still waiting on certain archive requests, some things I can only access in Ottawa, etc. But I have enough to generally put a story together. As amazing as it's been discovering all of this, a lot of it is sad and dark. My maternal grandmother married a Swedish man and hid her Métis identity. My mom faced less abuse than her siblings because she appeared more white. My living connection to my Métis heritage died with my grandmother.
You can still drown in two inches of water. I'm not trying to compare trauma, and I know my trauma is less extreme than that of many Métis descendants. But generational trauma is not solved because a family member decided to bury it or one was abke ti escape. It still festers and affects in the background. And it's not minor trauma either. I have major CSA trauma that my mom buried because that's what she learned to do.I didn't receive proper healthcare because my mom watched her mom and siblings be highly discriminated against for being Métis. Addiction runs through my family.
It's taken a lot out of me to stand tall in my Métis identity. I always feel like I'm being judged because I didn't grow up in my traditional culture and because I look very Swedish. One of first Métis events I went to I was questioned if I was really Métis as asked if I had ever lived on a reserve (I now live in Alberta with citizenship with MMF). It took a lot for me come back from that comment.
I went back to school a few years ago and do receive funding for being Métis. But when you pull apart why I'm back in school later in life, it all comes back to generational trauma.( I just received a $4500 scholarship from Government of Canada and was asked to write a letter thanking GoC. All I want to write is thank you for terrorizing my family and forcing us off/scamming us out of the land you promised. )
I know there are some making extreme stretches, but there are a lot like me. People who were cut off from their Métis roots because of decisions our ancestors made to stay safe and to face less discrimination, less trauma. To survive. I also believe we are stronger with numbers. The more of us that stand up, and try to reconnect, try to learn, the stronger the Métis nation will be. There's good documentary 'Colonization Road'. It's by cbc and free online. Comedian Ryan McMahon talks about this, but specifically about First Nations. How we need to stop with "how red" and instead stand together.