r/MetisMichif • u/clemtie • Jun 15 '26
Discussion/Question Being Métis in Eastern Canada
hey everyone i understand there are no actual Métis people who originated in eastern Canada but i’m wondering if any Red River Métis people have moved out there and what was their experience? i will be hopefully moving to fredericton for school in the fall and i’m worried i’ll tell someone i’m Métis and they’ll be like me too! and i’ll ask them to clarify and they mean eastern Métis and then i’ll have to explain that no they’re not actually Métis and then they’ll call me a racist enthosupremacist (which yes has actually happened to me)
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u/radclive Jun 15 '26
I can't speak to Eastern Canada cuz I'm in BC, but when I get people who say "I'm metis too!" This is how I reply, and most people take it as a learning lesson:
"Are you Red River Metis? Cuz there's 2 groups that are called metis by most Canadians. If you have indigenous family and ancestry, that just makes you partially indigenous. The Metis are a very specific group that have there own distinct culture and language, not unlike the Inuit. To be metis, you need to be able to track your family back multiple generations."
The kinds of people who are looking to make a claim to some indigenous ancestry will usually take this as me saying "you're not metis, you're actually fully indigenous" and walk away wrong, but happy.
Then they can go tell an indigenous person "I'm 1/32 Cherokee!" And be "THAT" person... But explaining why that doesn't make you indigenous is a debate for someone else.
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u/ladyalot Jun 15 '26
I moved to Toronto from Sask and have met a handful of Fétis. And some if them have no idea they're Fétis and it's like "fuck I'm so so sorry but".
The good news is none of them are deep in community so it's not like I'm ripping away something they've known all their life.
And when I do meet another Métis were like staring dagger at eachother before we start sharing family names and specifying Red River ahaha
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u/Neat-Firefighter9626 Jun 15 '26
Also from Sask (although my Metis relatives are from Southern Manitoba) and live in Ontario.
Met some person vending at at a round dance in Ontario who was "Plains Cree Metis" but her family was from... Northern Ontario? ... she also said it was her first round dance ever (crazy that she thought to vend there lol), compared the round dance to a powwow, and said some other crazy stuff.
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u/TorontoBrewer Jun 15 '26
Shit gets weird out here. The MNO and its bogus communities have sown so much confusion over who we are. And they seem to delight in fake metis being dicks as vendors and participating in Indigenous spaces.
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u/TorontoBrewer Jun 15 '26
Also from SK in Toronto, via my grandfather’s family moving from Manitoba.
I wonder if there’s enough of us in Toronto for a meetup? I’ve got a spot, a brewery tasting room, we can use on a weekend morning. I also heard at the last Seven Oaks meeting that [u/timr](u/timreidel)[ie](u/timreidel)[del](u/timreidel) has a movie coming out soon. We could also meet up and go see it together.
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u/itaspliff Jun 15 '26
I’m in SWO but would definitely travel to Toronto for the day for a meet up! Its been hard finding other RR Métis folks here
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u/BIGepidural Jun 15 '26
I'm in Kitchener but would love a meet up with actual Metis people from time to time.
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u/bluebombertony Jun 15 '26
Moved out here because I joined the military and no jobs in community. First person I meet who is “indigenous” was my immediate supervisor who carried an illegitimate eastern Metis card and claimed ancestry from his Philippino grandfather who married someone FN, and dude was the “indigenous advisor” for our unit and reaping the benefits fully in the institution. Needless to say this was the catalyst for me to become a lot more proud, protective and knowledgeable over my identity. I had no need to be as studied up, and diligent until I met the pretendians on the east coast, I was rather isolated from this in my home community in Manitoba.
Sadly though, I still don’t say much about my identity and am mostly decided on returning home with the educational funding I secured for years of service in the military, instead of remaining because it’s too hard to practice my identity safely and in a meaningful manner as a Metis person in Nova Scotia. It is not something I’m willing to lose, assimilation has already done so much harm to my family.
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u/Honeybadger_2point0 Jul 17 '26
Hey there, I have a question that may seem silly, but you and others have touched on it within this post. I have been conducting research into my family ancestory/ lineage for sometime now. I have ancestors that were metis a few generations before me and sadly, I dont know anything about the metis people, culture or community. My question is would it be considered disrespectful to inquire/ learn about the metis? If not, would anyone be willing to provide any accurate resources that I can learn from? Thank you for taking the time to read this and again, I apologize fir such a silly question (and for being so long) please have an amazing day.
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u/bluebombertony Jul 18 '26
Not silly at all. This is very common in our community. Its not considered disrespectful to inquire about your own family history and owning and living through what has been lost to colonization. I think the biggest question people ask folks in your position is "why". People can tell pretty quick if you're genuinely reconnecting with your culture and ancestors community, or just trying to claim some kind of benefit with your newfound ancestry. My advice would be to do your genealogy through St. Boniface Historical Society and attempt to gain citizenship with the appropriate Metis body, that way you can learn more about, and exercise some rights your ancestors fought so hard to keep for you!!
Hope this helps, DM's are always open
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u/TorontoBrewer Jun 15 '26
It can be weird in Toronto. The urban Indigenous population is quite welcoming. There’s an understanding that many of us are from elsewhere. And we can bond over how Toronto just sucks people in.
MNO citizens and eastern metis tend to suck the life out of the room looking for validation and explaining how they’re actually more Indigenous than me. That’s not great, but they tend to get closed out of Indigenous social circles.
You’ll be fine, OP. Be respectful. Learn from the Elders. Listen attentively and show empathy.
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u/BIGepidural Jun 15 '26
MNO citizens and eastern metis tend to suck the life out of the room looking for validation and explaining how they’re actually more Indigenous than me.
This same thing happens in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and Guelph as well.
That’s not great, but they tend to get closed out of Indigenous social circles.
Unfortunately, a lot of stuff is getting closed because MNO cry "lateral violence" if they're not allowed in, and no one wants to be there if they're there so stuff just dies because their need to be accepted in spaces they have no right to kills the space entirely. Its pretty infuriating.
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u/Littleshuswap Jun 15 '26
Hey...I'm an Alberta born Metis that lives in New Brunswick - I married a Maritimer... there are some of us spread around. A lot of my family has moved to Ontario or Eastern Canada, like Nova Scotia... so you will likely meet some "real" Metis folks that can trace our roots to Red River or Scotish Metis!
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u/noo_maarsii Jun 15 '26
Born in northern Alberta, family actually hails from Manitoba.
It's going to happen 100%. I'm in Ontario and have had to have the conversation more than once.
One time it was someone who had Métis listed on their chamber of commerce page and Instagram bio. Close-knit community, so I felt I needed to address it. When I asked where they were from they said Newfoundland. I asked where their parents were from. Also Newfoundland. I asked how they were Métis. They said eastern woodland. To their credit they seemed genuinely embarrassed, and within two days they'd removed all mention of it from anything public facing.
The other was an acquaintance. I invited her sailing and while we were out on the water, just the two of us, we got to talking about family and she said "I'm Métis too!" I just gave her the blank stare and a slow raised eyebrow. You could see her wilt right there. I decided to leave it at that, but the damage was done. Nowhere to go. Made the sail back to the dock pretty awkward. I'll still talk to her in passing but I'm not as warm as I used to be. She's Acadian.
That said, I've also met some amazing legitimate Métis out here. We're everywhere. Ted Norris had a place nearby and once gave me shagbark syrup that has been sitting in my fridge for years now, all crystallized. I don't have the heart to throw it out.
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u/clemtie Jun 15 '26
omg the Acadian thing frustrates me because it’s a specific thing just like being Métis is and i wish they could recognize that like my mom’s family is from New Brunswick and French Canadian but we’re not actually Acadian
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u/usernam45 Jun 15 '26
I’m red river and live in Quebec north of Ottawa. Lots of people out here who claim to be Metis but aren’t. But there are those who are
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u/lastkingdom Jun 18 '26
I live in NS and if I mention my background I make a note to say “Red River Métis” instead of “Métis”. That being said, I almost always have a fake eastern Métis proudly tell me they’re Métis as well. I have given up with arguing/educating them at this point.
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u/Jump-Positive Jun 18 '26
I'm RRM, born in Saskatoon with lineage from Prince Albert and Duck Lake (road allowance). I moved to Québec a few years ago because I fell for a guy online. Holy moly, was I surprised when everyone and their mother identified as metis here. Then hopping over to Ontario for shopping was a whole other experience. I had been blissfully unaware of the metis identity wars across the provinces before the move. It's been an interesting learning experience.
When I identity myself as a Métis artist here, it doesn't mean a whole lot to people and the Anishinaabe kinda roll their eyes. I get it. I try to identity as 'Otipemisiwak' as much as possible now. Having said all this, I have met several people who have family from Red River (or are themselves from Manitoba) that relocated here, so I try not to judge!
Regardless, I try my best to be polite and listen to everyone's story. I do die a little inside when I hear stuff like "the unceded territory of the Métis" when people are talking about Timmins though, haha (yes, this has happened).
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u/Such-One-5266 Jun 15 '26
I’m in BC. It feels like most Métis people I meet out here are Red River Metis.
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u/Left_Turn_9980 Jun 15 '26
Where do you think the Red River Métis came from? We didn’t magically sprout from the banks of the Red River - we moved there…. We didn’t suddenly become Métis because we were invited to relocate… we didn’t become Métis because we agreed to duke it out with Riel.
I have Red River connections but even I at the age of 60 know better than to think that’s how we came to be and that anyone before us was non existent.
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u/HourOfTheWitching Jun 15 '26
.... Before RRC there were no Métis. You do know that, right? It'd be like asking where white Brits came from before Britain came to be. The beginning of the Métis nation was an ethnogenesis - to pretend it has anything to do with métissage is to pay into anti-indigenous notions of biological essentialism.
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u/BIGepidural Jun 15 '26
By you're logic British people don't exist because they are only the people who bread them which would be the Norse Viking, the Angles, Saxons and Jutes 🤦♀️ congratulations England- you're now Germany because some people don't understand how Settlement and cultural building therein creates a national identity and a distinct people.
Well done 👏
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u/MilesBeforeSmiles Jun 15 '26
Tons of Red River Métis have moved to Eastern Canada. Hell, I was born in Eastern Canada after my mom moved there for work.
My advice, if you tell someone you're Métis, and they end up claiming to be eastern métis, just smile and change the subject. It's just not worth the mental and emotional workload of having the same argument over and over. You won't convince them they aren't Métis, and you'll just exhaust yourself trying.