Métis Rising presents a remarkable cross-section of perspectives to demonstrate that there is no single Métis experience – only a common sense of belonging and a commitment to justice. The contributors to this unique collection, most of whom are Métis themselves, offer accounts ranging from personal reflections on identity to tales of advocacy against poverty and poor housing, and for the recognition of Métis rights. This extraordinary work exemplifies how contemporary Métis identity has been forged into a force to be reckoned with.

Métis Rising brings together a vibrant collection of essays on history, politics, and culture that celebrate the resilience of Métis identity.

Métis Rising draws on a remarkable cross-section of perspectives to tell the histories and stories of people from richly varied backgrounds, demonstrating that there is no single Métis experience – only a common sense of belonging and a commitment to justice.

The contributors to this unique collection, most of whom are Métis themselves, examine often-neglected aspects of Métis existence. They talk about the arduous journey to rebuild the Métis nation from a once-marginalized and defeated people; their accounts ranging from personal reflections on identity to tales of advocacy against poverty and poor housing, and for the recognition of Métis rights.

Métis Rising is an extraordinary work that exemplifies how contemporary Métis identity has been forged into a force to be reckoned with.

Introduction

Part 1: History, Identity, and Belonging

1 River Water Flows through Our Veins / Leah Dorion and Curtis Breaton

2 What’s a Métis, Anyway? / Catherine Littlejohn

3 The Right to Self-Identify as Métis at School / Jonathan Anuik

4 Ancestral Knowledge in a Contemporary World / Yvonne Vizina

Part 2: Leadership and Relationship Building

5 Fire Starters and Keepers / Laura-Lee Bellehumeur-Kearns

6 Finding a Way around the Jurisdictional Gaps / Tricia Logan

7 Navigating Troubled Political Waters for Better Housing / Nathalie Kermoal

8 Demanding the Right to Care for Their Own Children / Allyson Stevenson

Part 3: Exercising Our Rights and Self-Determination

9 Who Will Come to Bury You? / Paul Chartrand

10 Wiichihiwayshinawn / Margaret Kress

11 Stoking the Embers: A Story of Realizing Decolonizing Aims with the Métis through Media Agancy / Yvonne Poitras Pratt

12 A Métis Woman's Journey of Discovery / Judith G. Bartlett

Index

Yvonne Boyer is a Michif with her Métis ancestral roots in the Red River. She was the associate director of the Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics, a professor of law at the University of Ottawa, and is the author of Moving Aboriginal Health Forward: Discarding Canada’s Legal Barriers. She was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 2018. Larry Chartrand is a citizen of the Métis Nation (Michif), professor emeritus in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa, and a former director of the Indigenous Law Centre at the University of Saskatchewan. He was the principal investigator for a SSHRC research project on Métis treaties that led to Métis Treaties in Canada: Past Realities and Present Promise.

Contributors: Jonathan Anuik, Judith G. Bartlett, Laura-Lee Bellehumeur-Kearns, Curtis Breaton, Paul Chartrand, Leah Dorion, Nathalie Kermoal, Margaret Kress, Catherine Littlejohn, Tricia Logan, Yvonne Poitras Pratt, Allyson Stevenson, and Yvonne Vizina

Métis Rising draws on a remarkable cross-section of perspectives to tell the histories, stories, and dreams of people from varied backgrounds, demonstrating that there is no single Métis experience – only a common sense of belonging and a commitment to justice.

The contributors to this unique collection, most of whom are Métis themselves, examine often-neglected aspects of Métis existence in Canada. They trace a turbulent course, illustrating how Métis leaders were born out of the need to address abhorrent social and economic disparities following the Métis–Canadian war of 1885. They talk about the long and arduous journey to rebuild the Métis nation from a once marginalized and defeated people; their accounts ranging from personal reflections on identity to tales of advocacy against poverty and poor housing. And they address the indictment of the jurisdictional gap whereby neither federal nor provincial governments would accept governance responsibility towards Métis people.

Métis Rising is an extraordinary work that exemplifies how contemporary Métis identity has been forged by social, economic, and political concerns into a force to be reckoned with.

Métis Rising brings together a vibrant collection of essays on history, politics, and culture that celebrate the resilience of Métis identity.

A must-read not only for scholars and students of Métis and Indigenous studies but for lawyers, policymakers, and all Canadians who wish a broader understanding of this country’s colonial past.