Summary by Beady I's

A point of clarification: I think we should define the terms Métis and Half-Breed. Sherry Farrell Racette, a Métis art scholar, has proposed a respectful usage of the term Half-Breed which originally referred to mixed-blood peoples who were of English descent. The term Métis today refers to both Métis of French and English descent. Historically, Métis referred to the peoples of Aboriginal and French Canadian descent, but the term is now used to encompass members of the Métis Nation throughout Canada.
Who exactly is Métis? This is a difficult question as there are many interpretations of what Métis means. In general, Métis means mixed-blood, but it also refers to a group of Aboriginal people, with distinct traditions, cultures and languages. Predominantly in the nineteenth century, there was a large group of Métis living at the Red River Settlement in Manitoba. Several groups of Métis then dispersed from this community across Canada including the Northwest Territories.

(Barbara A. Hail and Kate C. Duncan note “The descendents of Indians and Europeans have been referred to variously as Métis, mixed-blood, michif, half-breed, bois brule and non-status Indians.” Barbara A. Hail and Kate C. Duncan, Out of the north: the subarctic collection of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology (Bristol, R.I.: The Museum, 1989), 22.

Context of the era
Feeling associated with exhibition – Urgency
Cultural temperament
Anxiety, unease, disillusionment between farmers, Métis, Half-Breeds, due to land settlements, scrips, lack of government funding for First Nations people and farm equipment, relief aid

As Guy Lavalee notes, “At the time, the economy of the Métis, hunting of various kinds, fishing and trapping, was well integrated to the land and to the environment and was highly successful, much more successful than the Scots who tried farming! For the Métis people, the ‘unsurrections’ of 1869 at Red River and the ‘rebellion’ of 1885 at Batoche, were caused by the fear of losing their central position in the existing economy. Confederation as understood by the MacDonald government meant marginalization to the Métis, cut off from their economy.” ( Lavalee 1988:15)

Clothing
Both European and Aboriginal styles influenced their clothing. Métis women, according to Harrison, were also influenced strongly by the Grey Nuns, a catholic mission established throughout the Red River Settlement. Women would draw inspiration from the Cathedral decorations as well as the European-influenced designs taught by the religious women. Harrison notes that the sashes the Métis men wore were a style adopted from the fur traders, and were worn for practical reasons. Harrison makes no mention of the symbolic significance that the sash may have held for Métis people, as a signifier of a distinct nation.

Michif Language
According to Lavalee, “The Métis molded the aboriginal and settler languages into coherent patterns which reflected their own cultural and historical circumstances. Over the generations, grammatical structure, accent and idiom transformed into peculiarly Métis usages. And what was peculiarly Métis varied, of course, from place to place and from group to group, reflecting as it did the unique linguistic, cultural and historical antecedents of each group.” (Lavalee 1988: 171) There are four main Michif related languages; Michif Cree, Michif French, Ojibway and Swampy Cree. At St. Laurent, Michif French is prominent.

Michif is a unique language that combines Cree and French. Verbs are Cree while nouns are Michif-French in origin (2001:177). Peter Baaker notes that the influence of the Ojibway or Anishnaabe is also present in the Métis language, due to intermarriage between French men and Ojibway women (2001: 178).
Baaker makes a strong argument for the creation and evolution of the Michif language. He notes that many Aboriginal women married French men and would then teach their children their indigenous language. Usually the child became proficient in the mother’s language. With the second generations of Métis, the children would mix indigenous language such as Cree with French and the Michif language developed. Baaker states “When the mothers of the first generation speak a language different from the fathers, the new mixed languages of their descendants, if they are a considerable group, appear to combine the grammatical system of the mother’s language and the lexicon of the father’s”(2001: 179).

One thing we need to clarify is the type of Michif dialect we could use, because there are several. Perhaps we could use Michif French?


Regarding our aim to have a Michif speaker, we will have to decide – what languages were they speaking at Red River, or more specifically Batoche? Probably Michif French? Michif French, by 1900s in St. Laurent, came to be seen as less prestigious than French, introduced by Bretons, in 1900s (Lavalee 1988:181). The Michif language for the Métis people at St. Laurent is a strong signifier of their identity, kept up during 20th century, taught in home.

Music
Métis music and dance, like identity, has been influenced by a combination of Scottish, French and Aboriginal influences. Métis depend on oral tradition to pass on knowledge, so songs were not recorded on paper, but rather passed through humming and singing. Lynn Whidden notes the similarities between Métis and Aboriginal musical traditions, such as the use of the “one beat pulse” throughout a composition. The origin of the fiddle and the Red River Jig in Métis culture, argued by Whidden, can be traced in particular to the Desjarlais family, part of the Red River Settlement (2001: 169). The songs of the Métis draw on French, English, Cree and Michif traditions. (2001:174).
Perhaps we could have a recording of Métis fiddle music playing at the exhibition?
Possibly use the songs recorded by Lynn Whidden in “Métis Music” in Métis Legacy, 2001.

Settlement of the Prairies
Could perhaps include a scrip document?
Red River Settlement in 1870s
Both Métis and Half-Breeds felt they had a right to the land that they had settled on; many had farms along the Red River. These claims to the land however were ignored by the government, who created new ways of dividing the land into plots, which forced people off the land, to make room for Anglophone settlers, many from Ontario. With scrip, many Métis and Half-Breeds could either receive money or land in payment, however, the land plots were difficult to maintain, sometimes requiring a trip of great distance. After persecution in the 1870s -1880s, many Métis and Half-Breeds fled west to the subarctic, some went to Ontario and some set up a community at Batoche.

References
Bakker, Peter. “The Michif Language of the Métis.” In Métis Legacy, edited by Lawrence J. Barkwell, Leah Dorion, Darren R. Prefontaine, 177-179. Winnipeg: Pemmican Publications, 2001.

Harrison, Julia D. Métis: People between Two Worlds. Vancouver: Douglas and McIntyre, 1985.

Hope, Adrian, Poem “Ode to the Métis.” In Métis Legacy, edited by Lawrence J. Barkwell, Leah Dorion,
Darren R. Prefontaine. Winnipeg: Pemmican Publications, 2001.
2001.

Hourie, Audreen. “Oral History of the Michif/ Métis People.” In Issues in the North, volume 1, edited by Jill Oakes and Rick Riewe, 129-132. Edmonton: Canadian Circumpolar Institute, University of Alberta, 1996.

Lavalee, Guy. The Métis people of St. Laurent, Manitoba, an introductory ethnology. Vancouver: University of British Colombia, 1988.

Whidden, Lynn. “Métis Music.” In Métis Legacy, edited by Lawrence J. Barkwell, Leah Dorion, Darren R. Prefontaine, 169-176. Winnipeg: Pemmican Publications, 2001.