{"id":55243,"date":"2017-11-24T22:38:50","date_gmt":"2017-11-24T22:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=55243"},"modified":"2017-11-24T23:19:27","modified_gmt":"2017-11-24T23:19:27","slug":"who-gets-to-be-metis-as-more-people-self-identify-critics-call-out-opportunists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=55243","title":{"rendered":"Who gets to be Metis? As more people self-identify, critics call out opportunists"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who gets to be Metis? As more people self-identify, critics call out opportunists<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

National Post<\/a>
\n2017-11-23<\/p>\n

Graeme Hamilton<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>
\n Robin Robichaud shows his t-shirt after a meeting for the Wobtegwa<\/a> aboriginal community, a new Metis<\/a> group.
\nChristinne Muschi \/National Post<\/em><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The arrival of new players is stirring up tension with established M\u00e9tis<\/a> groups and raising concern among First Nations<\/a> leaders<\/em><\/p>\n

SHERBROOKE, Que.<\/a> \u2013 The scent of burning sage lingers in the air as drummers begin a song of welcome. They are traditions dating back centuries, but on this Sunday afternoon the ceremony opens a gathering of one of the country\u2019s youngest Aboriginal groups \u2014 the two-year-old Wobtegwa M\u00e9tis clan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The meeting, held in a high school auditorium, has brought together members from a corner of Quebec<\/a> stretching northeast from Montreal<\/a> past Quebec City<\/a> and south to the United States<\/a> border. Some of those present have long known of their Indigenous roots; for others the discovery has come recently. But they have all come together to push for government recognition of their rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis clan is sovereign on its territory,\u201d Yves Cordeau, band chief for the Lac-M\u00e9gantic<\/a> region informs the group.<\/p>\n

If the claim comes as news to many in Quebec, it\u2019s because the province\u2019s M\u00e9tis<\/a> awakening is recent. Raynald Robichaud, the Wobtegwa\u2019s clan chief, says even members of his own family discouraged him from returning to his Aboriginal roots. \u201cWe knew we had a great-grandmother who was aboriginal, but our family absolutely did not want to talk about it, because they were afraid,\u201d he says. \u201cFor us now, the fear is gone, and people are coming back.\u201d…<\/p>\n

…Checking a box on a census or connecting to family heritage is one thing. But as groups like the Wobtegwa lay claim to special services and territorial rights \u2014 in some cases, the same land as other Aboriginal groups \u2014 a backlash to the influx of new M\u00e9tis is emerging. Some critics question the motivation of those who \u201cbecome\u201d M\u00e9tis, and the impact of their activism on more established groups. Others question the right to self-identify at all…<\/p>\n

…Leroux, Gaudry and organizations representing western M\u00e9tis maintain that mixed ancestry alone does not make one M\u00e9tis. True M\u00e9tis \u2014 as recognized by the Constitution<\/a> as one of Canada\u2019s<\/a> three aboriginal groups \u2014 must have roots in Manitoba\u2019s<\/a> historic Red River settlement<\/a>, they say. That can include M\u00e9tis all the way west to British Columbia<\/a> and into Ontario<\/a>, but not as far east as Quebec and the Maritimes<\/a>…<\/p>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The arrival of new players is stirring up tension with established M\u00e9tis groups and raising concern among First Nations leaders <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,19,125,8,3015],"tags":[27686,5277,7578,27642,27685,27684,27687,27681,27688,2858,11629,27682,27689,27683],"class_list":["post-55243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-canada","category-identitydevelopment","category-media-archive","category-native-americans","tag-adam-gaudry","tag-chris-andersen","tag-circe-sturm","tag-darryl-leroux","tag-denis-gagnon","tag-georges-champagne","tag-ghislain-picard","tag-graeme-hamilton","tag-monique-tremblay","tag-national-post","tag-quebec","tag-raynald-robichaud","tag-robin-robichaud","tag-yves-cordeau"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55243"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55246,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55243\/revisions\/55246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}