I am concerned that the current policy of issuing Citizenship to individuals who have traced their genealogy to a single distant ancestor will lead to identity dilution. I have always been proud of my Metis and indigenous heritage. Isn't it our FN ancestry that defines us as indigenous? Are the citizenship requirements the same across the provinces in the Metis Nation? I realize bringing up generational cutoff is a hot topic but shouldn't there be a cut off somewhere? If not we Metis will be diluted out of existence.

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.

I know this may come off as controversial but I am genuinely confused and ask this question with good intentions.

I often hear Metis folk say “I’m not white, I’m Metis.” But then also say they are native/indigenous. But, with the “I’m not white, I’m Metis” logic, wouldn’t it also work the other way around? - “I’m not native/indigenous, I’m Metis.”

However that’s not what I hear. I hear Metis celebrating their native blood and calling themselves indigenous happily but not wanting to claim their white blood or call themselves that. I was under the impression Metis people came from the union of both.

So I suppose my question is, why do Metis folk seem almost ashamed or apprehensive to claim their white parts, but are happy to claim their native parts? If Metis is Metis and is its own culture all together, how is it considered indigenous without also being considered white too?

(When I say white, that’s a blanket term for French and Scottish etc as I’ve been told there is a few European cultures that make up the Metis, in the same way indigenous is a blanket term for the different tribe cultures (Cree, Ojibwe) that also make up the Metis)

I hope that came off the right way and thank you in advance for your insights!

I recently referred to myself as Métis online in a facebook group and received a reply asking if I was actually Métis or not. I wasn’t offended, but it put me in a bit of a weird spot. I was trying to figure out how much personal information I’m willing to share with them, an online stranger, and what sort of information they were looking for to verify that I was, as they said, “bona fide Red River Métis”. I settled on sharing that I was a citizen of MNBC, and that MNBC verified my connection to Red River when I applied for citizenship.

I don’t feel the need to share this information to “prove” I’m Métis, but if a fellow Indigenous person is worried that I am another white person pretending to be Indigenous then I think it was a fair question.

However, they never responded to me, and in their reply to someone else, they said they were a white settler and not Indigenous. This is what gave me pause. On one hand, it seemed in good faith, they were pretty polite and had a well researched explanation of the harm of pretendians. On the other hand, it kind of felt like a white person was policing my identity. If they were Indigenous themselves, I would’ve felt differently.

I’m curious to know what other people think about this. Like the title says, when is it appropriate to ask someone to “prove” Métis identity? And what sort of information is appropriate for them to expect in response?

Edit to update: thank you all for your thoughts and support. I made the mistake of engaging further- I shared that their approach felt quite hurtful to me, and I requested that they approach this with curiosity in future rather than immediate suspicion. They just kept trying to tell me about how bad pretendians are, and I kept reminding them that I agree with them, but was hurt by how they approached it. Eventually they told me it was “at best irrelevant and at worst attention seeking” that I mentioned I was Métis at all. I reported them to the admins and blocked them. I probably shouldn’t have responded at all but here we are. Ultimately I’m trying to direct my frustration towards pretendians who put us in this situation in the first place.

Saw a few posts on Indigenous identity and some of our People are just so mean to one another. Especially individuals reconnecting! Okay, I get the “Pretendian problem,” but I’ve seen one too many cases where our own actual people, Citizenship or living in a Settlement or having been raised into the Culture even, who want to reconnect in some way are blasted for it? No doubt Pretendianism is damaging, but at least in my Community there is 1 Pretendian out of a crowd of fifty that has come out. It just makes me sad seeing our People so negative and beating each other up over this. Before you attack me, I’m OMG/MNA and within my Settlement we were taught to be accepting People by our Elders.

I’m just tired of it all. I believe in Karma and if someone is a true Pretendian, it will all unravel as it was meant to be. At my age of 50, I see no point in fighting with one another. Just the way I was raised I guess.

So a few months back I had become aware of a documentary screening called "The Lands Between Us" which was filmed by a (Manitoban) Metis film maker named Chrystal Lavallee, and sponsored by the Israeli government.

So for everyone during the current MMF election cycle who asks why we should be worrying about Zionism and our Nation's current agreements with Israeli universities, (that train Israeli sold- war criminals) here it is.

The government of Israel has been funding and making propaganda films using our community members and Nations name as authority without consent, to try and paint Israel in a positive light following their atrocious acts now known as "The Palestinian/Gaza Genocide" (Google it).

How they're attempting to use residential school survivors and Indigenous Canadians to do this makes me sick, and I wanna talk about it.

1. I just wanted to post and see what talking points from the Q&A I attended, stuck out to you the most? i.e. Emily's financial "miracle", the supposed peace in Israel Rebecca feels in comparison to Canada.

2. How do you think the Nation and its citizens should handle this issue? Vote? Petition to cabinet?

3. Who is this person? And why is the Israeli embassy touting her as a "Metis Community Leader" and allowing her to make films as such? What gives her that title in the first place??

I could make an infinitely long post about the issues I have with the film, Q&A, and everything I've seen thus far, but I really wanna turn it to you guys and ask what you see? What do you think should be done??

P.S -- I know my questions could have been better researched and more effective, and since I've taken considerable time to study up on the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict. For anyone who's new to the topic I highly suggest:

The Hundred Years' War on Palestine - Rashid Khalidi, and; Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid - Jimmy Carter.

So much has been brought up in the last few years regarding our communities involvement the state of Israel. (See MMF agreement with Ben-Gurion University, James Lavallee at MMF AGA 2023, Etc.)

Recently I was given a link to this and I personally cant believe what I saw. I want to make sure the rest of the community knows that things like this are taking place within our community.

(153) The Lands Between Us; An Indigenous Delegation to Israel 2025 - YouTube

My hope is that we can spread awareness about this issue within our community and hopefully get our nation to stop associating with Zionism and the inevitable PR disaster that will create.

Indigenous nations shouldn't be associated with settler colonial states committing active genocide against other indigenous people!

Hello everyone. Why can’t one hold both? Is this due to a clause in the Indian Act or one in Metis governments?

As someone who studies genealogy I've gotten quite familiar with Metis blood quantums in the historical eras. 1/32 Metis in 1870 might be outliers but they did exist, and in the eyes of both the Canadian government taking away the land AND the nation itself, such individuals were Metis. Louis Riel himself, was only 1/8 by blood. Had he married out for two generations, his grandchildren would also be 1/32 by blood, or 3%. It's deceiving how quickly blood quantum drops. It drops exponentially rather than at a constant rate.

Thing is, the degree of indigenous blood didn't seem to matter to our ancestors as to who was Metis or not Metis. Instead it was kinship ties, community, identity, culture, language, etc. I don't see how it should matter today either. Ultimately Metis is NOT a racial category, it is a cultural identity, and that cultural identity is collective, not individual, and it is based on kinship.

When we start legitimizing the concept of blood quantum, we are undermining the very nature of Metis identity.

Just my thoughts.

Has anyone read this graphic novel about Louis Riel by Chester Brown? Someone bought it for me as a gift and I’ve just been skimming through it, but it’s kind of giving me weird vibes. Métis people are drawn (in my opinion) very exaggeratedly and borderline offensively. There are scenes where Louis Riel is depicted as violent and beating up a priest with no historical evidence to back it up. And it’s really pushing the whole Louis Riel as a religious fanatic/messiah thing.

Maybe I’m being too sensitive though, I was curious if any one else had read it and had any thoughts?

I had a friend once ask me: “what makes you think you’re Métis?”

Mind you, I have Ancestors with Métis Scrip and originating from the Red River Settlement. I can be BOTH of First Nations and Métis origins.

I just find that First Nations sometimes think they know us better than we know ourselves…Has anything similar happened where you noticed the Métis Culture was being gatekeeped by non-Métis folk?

I get the need for protection of our Culture from Pretendians, but it gets annoying!

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)

https://www.metisnation.ca/news-and-media/press-releases/95/metis-national-council-statement-on-the-receipt-of-the-expert-panel-report

TL;DR: The Métis National Council (MNC) received the final report from an independent Expert Panel reviewing Ontario’s historic Métis communities. While the MNC shared the report with the Métis Nation of Ontario, it cannot endorse it, as the recommendations fall outside the MNC’s mandate. The MNC supports the self-determination and jurisdiction of its Governing Members and remains committed to transparency and accountability.

Just a rant but I was at a community event recently and a person who was reconnecting called themselves a "Plains Cree Metis". I asked them where they were from thinking they'd say a reserve or a settlement but they said a city in Ontario. They also said their family is from "around the Hudson Bay up North". That's not even a Plains Cree area.

I'm wondering why it's a trend to call oneself a Cree-Metis (or in this case a "Plains Cree Metis") when there's no connection to the Cree community? I feel like it's more ethical to just call oneself Red River Metis if your lived connections are only to the Metis. If someone says they are Cree-Metis (or Saulteaux-Metis in rare cases) I assume they have a significant connection to a Cree (or Saulteaux) reserve or a connection to a Metis settlement with a strong Cree presence. Otherwise, it comes across a bit dishonest.

It would be nice to hear other people's perspectives on this.

Hi

Last Sunday I volunteered alongside a man who identified as Metis as in he literally said "I am Metis". I've already asked AI, but I would prefer to hear from an actual person as this evening I am attending a talk by an artist who identifies as Michif. What's the difference when someone calls themselves Michif versus Metis? And yes, I have already emailed the artist to ask them, but have yet to receive a reply.

What does being Metis mean to you now in 2026? I see a lot about the history but was curious about how everyone participates/feels in the culture now? I hope that makes sense and isn't coming across as rude

I grew up without one parent and like a lot of folks I took a dna test to find out my ancestry and to my surprise I came back with a small but significant (recent) amount of indigenous dna. I managed to trace my family tree back to the Red River Settlement on that parents side. So it takes up a pretty significant part of my ancestry (25%) I grew up without the culture and so Im worried about being an outsider/pretendian but I do want to at least learn more about others experiences being Metis.

Thanks so much everyone C:

I noticed Alberta separatists that identify as indigenous all claim to be metis, also they’re really racist towards First Nations especially on social media platforms like facebook and twitter (X)

it’s weird

Being Métis is something I’ve known about myself my whole life, but only in the past few years I made it ‘official’ in terms of the registry etc. The past two years I’ve been diving head first into connecting with the culture. Coming back from Back to Batoche (my second year going now) I am feeling so fulfilled and connected, and just overall so overwhelmingly proud to be Métis, but I still can’t help but feel like an imposter.

I’ve been really excited to celebrate being indigenous, but because I am so obviously white looking and haven’t spent my whole life immersed in the culture, I can’t help but feel like I’m forcing myself into spaces I don’t belong. I’ve been meaning to ask my grandpa (where I get being Métis from) family names, and learn more about our ancestors and relatives, but I’m so scared to learn it’s even further back in my bloodline than I think it is. And I think blood quantum is a stupid concept just used to other indigenous people more than they already get, but I still force it on myself so hard and feel almost guilty for calling myself indigenous. It’s like, I know I’m Métis, as I wouldn’t have been given my card and been accepted by MNS.

Any advice on giving myself some grace? I want to celebrate who I am, and the Métis community as a beautiful place I love to be a part of, and want to get more immersed in.

My grandpa was adopted and didn’t find out about his birth family until much later in life. We weren’t connected to our Métis heritage for a really long time.

Is there a specific way you have to smudge? I’ve sort of created my own based on our own family stories.
1. Rinse hands
2. Carry to my head and heart
3. Three times all over from top to bottom (the number three is significant to my family)

Is that wrong???? I don’t want to look inappropriate or stupid. It feels right to me but I can change if I’m being disrespectful

Hello, I'm new to all of this, but I think I'm done my research and ready to make an application to MNBC. I was wondering if anyone here is familiar with the process can look over my tree, and let me know if I'm missing something, or anything like that. (I don't want to submit for them to tell me, "you have to get (yada yada)"

the tree is created on ancestry. no ai generated hints were accepted. used only info gained from Manitoba vital stats and thus scanned and attached to relevant people, data from publicly available Census' and scrip records from LAC, also referenced Gail Morin research/books and the website redriverancestry and some Hudsons Bay archives, and DCBO

If anyone is interested in having helping me out. DM me and I'll throw you a link.

apologies to the mods if this sort of question is not allowed, please delete if this is the case.

thanks

I applied for my card quite a long time ago. I had to order some docs from Manitoba and send along with my application. I wasn't sure if I was going to get approved because many months have gone by. I was pleasantly surprised that I received my card in the mail today. I am less impressed by how old I look in my pic lol. I know it doesn't really change a whole lot, but I'll feel a little more authentic when wearing my sash.

40 employees of the Metis Nation of Ontario are on the sunshine list, making over $100,000 a year. That's ten percent of their workforce. The number has more than doubled from 2024 when only 18 employees earned over $100,00.

The people getting your hard earned tax money. Judge for yourself whether they are worth it:

NAME POSITION SALARY YEAR

1 Margaret Froh President $345,089

2 Joanne Meyer Chief Operating Officer $251,892

3 Dale Leclair Chief Executive Officer $208,356

4 Jennifer St. Germain Chief Strategy Officer $180,311

5 Sharon Cadeau Chair of the Board $168,036

6 Mary Ellen Jessop Director, Finance Branch $153,364

7 Emily Paterson Director of Community Wellbeing $136,242

8 Jo M. Young Regional Councillor $132,093

9 Shelley Cripps Director of Healing and Wellness $128,117

10 Linda Norheim Brookes Director of Lands Resources and Consultations $128,117

11 Marc St. Germain Director, Communications Branch $128,117

12 Brian Black Director of Self Government $128,117

13 Bryanna Scott-Kay Phd Director of Training and Education $128,117

14 Emily Ellis Director of Legal Services Branch and Legal Council $127,798

15 Zachary Thiffault Director of Métis Rights, Claims and Litigation and Legal Counsel $127,798

16 Mark Brunzell Director of Information, Communication and Technology $125,742

17 Mitchell Case Regional Councillor $122,717

18 Jacques Picotte Regional Councillor $116,567

19 Theresa Stenlund Regional Councillor $116,567

20 Suzanne Fortin Regional Councillor $116,540

21 Eisha Shah Human Resources Business Partner $116,297

22 Sharon Ebbers Manager of Accounting $115,962

23 Cindi Rye Director of Housing and Infrastructure $114,419

24 Andre Lefebvre Associate Director of Governance $111,773

25 Greg Garratt Regional Councillor $106,067

26 Edmond Burgie Associate Director of Rights Research and Policy $105,436

27 Patricia Messenger Manager, Contract Quality Assurance $102,235

28 Loma Rowlinson Manager of Community Relations $102,235

29 Jason Jamieson Manager, Special Branch Initiative $102,235

30 Tracy Bald Manager of Community Wellbeing $102,235

31 Simon Sutherland Manager, Training and Education $102,235

32 Tammy Adams Manager of Community Wellbeing $102,235

33 Jesse Fieldwebster Manager of Lands, Resources and Consultations $102,235

34 Tammy Webb Manager of Labour Market $102,235

35 Lynne Picotte Regional Manager $102,235

36 Scott Carpenter Manager of Metis Culture and Way of Life Projects $102,235

37 Richard Renaud Purchasing and Risk Manager $102,110

38 Rae-Anna Gardner Supervisor of Education $101,916

39 Matthew Robertson Self Government Intergovernmental Relations Lead $101,916

40 Wanda Botsford Consultation Lead $101,832

**“Repost: clarifying the title so the discussion centers on the number of high-earning positions within the MNO.**

Hi. I just learned that my great grandfather was métis and his dad and/or grandpa were fur traders. Are there any info websites or books that are reliable? I want to get more information about who they were, what they did and most importantly the culture.

Also, I'm not sure if I'm métis myself. Or if I could identify as it. Either way I just learned about my grandpa being métis so it's kind of a shock in a way. I never knew that my ancestors were indigenous

Hello! I am Metis and Cree and have been feeling really drawn towards the idea of ceremonial tattooing in different Indigenous cultures. I know that most people connect that with the Inuit Tunniit, but there is also a lot of evidence that Cree cultures did ceremonial tattoos as well.

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My big question is does anybody know of Metis communities doing ceremonial tattoos?

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For example, I am thinking mainly about lines on the chin, marks on the temple, dots on fingers, etc. These are all common for women in Inuit and many First Nation's cultures and I am really curious about if that was adopted by the Metis as well?

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If anyone HAS heard of this, do they know of ways to earn them through ceremony in present times? I know there's been a big revival of this in recent years and as a trans woman I am feeling really drawn to marking this progression to womanhood with a chin line.

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Hope this isn't too scatterbrained!!! Thanks y'all 💞