Claiming the “Metis” status in Canada: A critical analysis of the department of Justice's inquiries on historic Metis communities

In 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada Powley's case concluded that the Metis are distinct people from the First Nations and the Inuit in Canada. Besides, it established ten specific criteria on who can legally qualify for indigenous fishing and hunting subsistence rights. In anticipation of a growing number of Metis right claims, the Department of Justice requested in 2004 an extensive study project twenty communities of mixed ancestry in Canada. Through historical evidence, different experts were requested to respond to two criteria in those studies: the possible ethnogenesis of historic Metis communities, and the indicators of effective European control in the study area. This article first provides a contextualization of the inclusive and exclusive definition of the “Metis” in Canada. An overview of the different communities and territories under study will then be presented, followed by a comparative analysis of different indicators of a possible ethnogenesis in those historical communities. Last but not least, this article will shed light on the conceptual limitations and scientifically biases of this large-scale project requested by the Department of Justice in Canada.

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