R E S E A R C H R E P O R T:
HISTORIC MÉTIS IN ONTARIO:
WAWA and ENVIRONS
FOR
THE MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES
OF THE GOVERNMENT OF ONTARIO
NAT IVE AFFAIRS UNIT
300 Water Street
P.O. Box 7000
Peterborough, Ontario K9J 8M5
August 12, 1999
Excerpt from Page 24
"Peterson (1985:39) asserts that the distinctiveness of métis in Great Lakes area was fully
apparent to outsiders by the early decades of the 1800s when racial terms began to be used in
classifying Indians from half-breeds or métis. Van Kirk (1980:95-6) reports that ca. 1800, a NWC
policy of supporting servants’ families coupled with the emergence of a body of “freemen”, resulted
in the progeny of Nor’Westers being recognized at an early stage as a group distinct from the Indians.
They were known as “métis” or “bois brulés” and by far the largest number of them were
descendants of the French-Canadian engagés and their Indian wives. According to Gorham (ibid.:40-
41), it was not until the 1820s that a few scattered references to half-breeds began to appear in the
writings of Catholic missionaries – one of whom writes of marriages of “Canadians or halfbreeds
to full blooded Indian women.” While indicating the existence of a separate ethnic category for
mixed bloods, this quote also raises the issue of the ambiguous use of the word “Canadian” to refer
to métis, a methodological problem raised also by Giraud (1986). Giraud emphasizes that the context
in which the word is used in historical documents from this time period is key to determining to
whom the name ‘Canadian’ or canadien is referring. In many cases the name is applied to employees
of the North West Company. Giraud’s “Canadian Métis” refers to NWC mixed-blood individuals
and families, in contrast to those attached to the Hudsons Bay Company whom he labels “Scottish
half-breeds (ibid.:346-347)"
Full report-http://www.metisnation.org/media/141020/ontario%20report%20-%20michipicoten.pdf
