Paper short abstract:

In Canada,the Indian Act has rendered Indigenous identity visible through the paradigm of bounded space: reservations and traditional territories. This is a restrictive framework to apply to the individual experiences of diasporic Métis people with multiple forms of origin.

Paper long abstract:

Individuals often use strict definitions of 'place' to describe themselves and to confirm their membership in particular groups within recognizable spatial territories. In Canada, colonization, confederation, and the Indian Act have rendered Indigenous identity visible through the paradigm of bounded space: reservations and traditional territories. Land and identity are inextricably bound in Indigenous law, policy, academia and self-identification. This is a restrictive framework to apply to the individual experiences of Métis people. Home is diverse. Home is often not a concrete dwelling or spatial territory, but rather a connection to family, culture, history and memory.

Red River Settlement is often thought of as an origin, and as a home for Métis people. However, there has been great diversity within not only the population, but within its meanings of 'home'. Métis origins in the Red River Settlement are diverse. George Bryce outlined three distinct communities of Métis within the region: French Métis, English-Métis, and Selkirk Settlers (1896). Each group was unique in geographical area, language and religion, and were structured by varying forms of kinship and ancestry.

Using RedRiverAncestry.com as a primary source, this paper will examine stories of Métis families that fit within Bryce's divisions of community to demonstrate that Métis cannot be situated in a uniform time or place. In addition, many Métis people have physically or spiritually left their communities, forever changing their relationship to 'home'. The lack of cultural community, and difference in past life-ways is evidence that Métis identity has become fluid.