Metis in the cultural landscape of Canada in the second half of the 19th century

The period 1869-1885 holds a key importance for the Metis of the Canadian West, for it had a crucial influence on the historical destinies of this community. The first rebellion of 1869-1870 led to the formation of the province of Manitoba, and the second rebellion of 1884-1885 had the most severe consequences for the Metis, which were reflected in the long-lasting discriminatory policies of the Canadian authorities. This article explores the process of conceptualizing the category of “Metis” in the Canadian cultural landscape of the second half of the nineteenth century from the perspective of intellectual history. The events of 1869-1885 aroused the interest of Canadian intellectuals and demanded an evaluation that was impossible without answering the question of who the Metis were. Thus, representatives of Catholic circles in French Canada perceived the Metis in a largely complimentary way and saw them as a special, to some extent “barbaric”, frontier of the Francophone world of North America. In English Canada, the figure of the Metis was associated with many negative perceptions and stereotypes. Metis is also a silent figure, located “in the gray zone” between the worlds of civilization and the world of “savages”. The phenomenon of metissage and the historical destiny of this community were also conceptualized by the Metis themselves: we are talking about the legacy of L. Riel, the leader of the rebellions. Riel's texts construct the concept of “Metis nation” and the community itself acquires independence and historical subjectness associated with a complex of religious and messianic ideas.

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