Késsinnimek - Roots - Racines

Sundance's Corner
   by
   Louise-Andrée Éthier
aka Sundance Aquero Sharp

Sundance's Corner
Impressions of a Québecoise
August/Moon of Temez8was
Gathering

  What is a Métisse/Métis Anyway?

Kwai to all my Relations:

Here we are in August...the month of the gathering. Summer has found its way in times of climate changes and the rising in global temperatures where although we might not be aware of these changes, they are affecting life on earth in its most primitive areas like the migrations of the great caribou; or the coral reefs in Trinidad....and for those of us in the desert it's time to remain low and suffer the heat.We do not expect cooler days until November!

Gathering implies many things. Mostly, it makes us think of happy times, unity, celebration, social activities and human interaction of some sort. People struggling collectively and individually to survive life on planet Earth...none of us being immune from some sort of suffering at some period in life whether by illness or death of a loved one..or some other tragedy....we gather together in happy as well as sad times. We find comfort in the love and support of friends and family. We gather.......we gather materials too! We often find our homes filled with all kinds of "stuff" that we gather to make life what it is...to create an environment where we can find refuge! We are like busy little beavers placing logs just right to make us comfortable so we can nest like birds and raise families. And...we have been doing this since time immemorial! So why do we still have conflict? The worst part of gathering is the gathering of arms and armies! This implies more endless suffering and death....tears of widows and orphaned children...and finally there is the gathering of spirit! the best kind! The connection we have through love...it is this that makes life continue....

This month my writing is an impression based on criticism, fury, love, anger and challenge. A gathering of Metis. If you are of mixed ancestry, you will know what I mean. You will know what it is to live under the flag of hate and racism. You will also know how it feels to be under attack by one's own relatives and other people of kind; the Metis. It appears that if one is Metis there is reason to suffer unusual criticism. It suffice not to be Metis/Metisse however...One has to prove that one is Metis/Metisse to even be taken seriously or considered authentic. No other people on Earth have to prove their identity in the same way a Metis/Metisse person does. Once one has proven their identity, then they are free to suffer Metissedom! Sounds funny doesn't it?

And what is a Metis/Metisse anyway?

.....A common question which is demeaning to our people as if we didn't exist as whole people referring to us as objects as opposed to politely asking Who are the Metisse people? It is the constant dehumanization of referring to aboriginal people as sub-human which still exists in our society today! For some, it is a continual denial of our existence and when someone who is Metis stands up to proudly claim their heritage, they are more than often ridiculed or ignored by those who are still non accepting of native people particularly because of the bi-racial nature. Mixed folk do not count as separate people. When having to fill out forms that require the racial identity of people, to be divulged; Metis are not included and are forced to choose one or the other. If this Metis person does not have the proper identification then they are forced to choose another category! This of course is not limited to the Metis people, it includes anyone of a mixed racial background! For black people, it is based on the unjust one drop rule, so anyone who is mixed with the black race is considered black. It presents a problem with identity before one is even born. And while there is a growing awareness of bi-racial people, it is still a big problem fundamentally that a mixed person must face every day of their lives.

It appears that Metis (masculine gender in French and Metisse (feminine gender in French) are people of mixed ancestry that began some time in the 1600's when the French couriers de boies(mainly fur trappers) and native women married and had families. History states that these marriages were sanctioned in the early days. There was hope for the New World and a new race of people emerged...the Metis/Metisse. Like anyone with good sense, the Metis profited from the best of both worlds but were never deemed acceptable by both worlds except those Metis who chose to live primarily in Indian villages or fight on the Indian side or who identified primarily with their native relatives...they were regarded as native by native people and outcasts by the whites. The government however identified a person as white if they had a white father and negated the maternal side if the mother was native therefore causing that person the loss of Indian identity or Indian privilege. Sometimes a native woman whose marriage did not work out was denied the claim to her native status which was usually connected with the ability to survive. Sometimes, she was not permitted to return to the land where she was born and had relatives on. She was completely cut off from both societies and the consequence of this was often death. This is a long history and I am not qualified to be a historian, I am only speaking of how I have been taught and how I see things as my place in history.Nor do I want to repeat what has already been written on the subject.

As Canada and the US grew, so did the status of mixed people change politically, socially and economically. We still live in confusion about who we are as Metis/Metisse. It is acceptable in some circles and still unacceptable in others. In the US however Metis/Metisse people are virtually unknown by whites and Natives alike or I should more correctly say by Natives and non-Natives alike.Only a handful of US residents know of Metis people because they have somehow been exposed to Canadians. A few groups therefore have formed since the 1970's mainly by whites who have discovered they have or might have Indian blood in their family tree. Some of these groups are very competitive and have alienated many Native people. It is mainly because they do not understand; nor seem to want to learn or consider the real issues of Native or of Metis people and are for the most part non Indian people in Native dress or clothing using Native culture, tools,artifacts etc.for their own self serving purposes. Some have the audacity to call themselves pipe carriers or medicine men and will almost get violent if you challenge them. They want to be Indian so badly that it has become an obsession or a mental illness.The term "wannabe" has emerged from this very situation defining people who desperately want to identify as American Indians.They copy native ceremonies of which they know nothing about; smoke drugs in the store bought Sacred Pipes and try to get a hold of eagle feathers without ever considering how these things are used or obtained by native people in the first place. They even seek our native medicine people or Elders to badger them into telling stories or revealing secrets without learning the protocol for approaching such people and basically show no respect for the true native culture even if it's pointed out to them. They make their own rules. All of what they know has been read in books written by other whites and they will not take the time to really learn from the Elders.They go to pow-wows and run bogus Sundances in total disrespect of the real thing. These people have now conveniently jumped on the bandwagon and have begun to conveniently call themselves Metis thereby expanding the Metis definition to a broader perimeter which has forced some Metis Nations to be extra careful with whom they accept as members as this places them in an uncomfortable political and social position which affects the Native economically and threatens their sovereignty.

It is also for these reasons that Metis people have to prove who they are more so nowadays and this has caused more troubles and more suffering among Metis people who already have serious problems when it comes to identity and recognition! These groups are also creating a sub/sub culture of pseudo native people.The problem has now grown to the point where there exists a deepening love/hate relationship with native people because these new comers are not welcome amongst native people anymore. They do not understand the trouble they cause native people and the hostility they create by their disrespect and basic rip off of the native culture making a mockery of an already misunderstood people. It's another kind of encroachment that hurts real native and Metis people deeply because many of these new groups also want land, money and the benefits entitled to Native people from the government. They do not care to understand that it threatens the very fabric of life in the social and political relations that Natives and the government have since the treaty days. They do not realize that the government is forever on the brink of "termination' (the abolishment of tribes).Keeping one's sovereignty is a constant struggle. False claims by these new groups deprives the real Metis of his or her true claims as sovereign aboriginal nations. Many times the issue of skin color is at the heart of contention or whether a person looks native or not is the weapon of choice to deny one their true identity! So the matter of blood quantum has become very important! Hence having to prove one's identity though it may be hurtful for some who have no documentation, protects the welfare of sovereign aboriginal nations and is necessary to keep those from further encroachment and loss.

Unfortunately, the records of the past do not always show Indian blood especially if ones blood is found in the matrilineal lines.The children of a native woman and a white man were written down as white and do not always show the wife as native in the documents. This presents a big problem to the descendants of these native women. In those early days it was thought that Indian people and especially those who were mixed would assimilate well into the broader mainstream of white society but time showed that it did not. Those people who were mixed generally wanted to identify more as native than non native when presented with having to make a choice. Yet to choose to be native would often mean a sentence to poverty and suffering. Therefore, mixed blood people often had to lie and identify themselves as white thereby losing their native identity forever and often their native associations. I will not get into all the reasons why they had to lie in this article but there were many reasons. It was more than choice. It also had to do with DNA. And so here lies the confusion. And here lies the problem some Metis people have in proving their identity now which causes a lot of heart ache and suffering because these people are being denied their real heritage and ancestry. It robs them of who they are in truth and robs them of the ability to be whole people nor can they be free with the liberty to be who they are! It would be difficult I think for a non native person to understand this because it does not happen to them and it's hard to imagine. It's like the worm on a fishing line......who said they do not feel pain? It is painful to be deprived of one's truth!

To be defined as Indian in one of the definitions given by Title IV, an Indian person can be said to be Indian if he or she lives the Indian way or is recognized by other Indians as Indian! It is similar to the Metis definition and it makes it difficult when these newer groups who use this standard as their claim to Metissedom!

It is for these reasons that there is so much confusion surrounding what is Metis or what is Indian. We are Metis because our grandparents told us or because our parents told us so and that is the bottom line! Even if it was hidden in the family, there was always someone who at least whispered it in our ears! Often it was told to someone who showed a propensity for carrying on if it was hidden.Of course there are those who learned it later in discovering their genealogy and in those cases there was little interaction or knowledge of their ancestry in their youth or childhood but often these people felt different from the norm which became very clear once they discovered their ancestry. Sometimes it is at this juncture that ancestral recollections come in the form of deja-vue! These people usually seek out their heritage and try to become enrolled in a qualified group. They can be considered real Metis. It is something that one feels deeply in their hearts and don't know what it is.

According to certain wise people from First Nations, it is said that First Nation spirit guardians are placed with these Metis children at conception like guardian angels to help them throughout life! Look at your shadow and see if it is a native shadow...it can be seen in some people that way....but there is always something that was passed down! No paper can tells us who we are.........we can only know by what is inside of us.It is also true that some people feel nothing! Similarly, there are many people want to deny their native heritage but that is changing rapidly. Paper is too elusive. But to be practical we ultimately need those papers in the society we live in! It is a paper material world that we live in! We all have to identify through some form of paper! Birth certificates, passports, drivers licence, etc. therefore many of us Metis are incorrectly defined hidden and unrecorded. And there lies a huge problem!

To be sure there are physical as well as spiritual traits to be found amongst all people. Spirituality and DNA are closely related! They are like the two sides of a coin! Spirituality is not always a religious or holy experience! It can take the form of recollections, intuitive feelings, hunches etc. People who develop their spirituality often find their answers this way. They can take that information and translate it into the material world. It is higher than intuition alone because it is stronger and more compelling but it does begin with intuition like a hunch! Dreams are very important to native people. Some cultures trusted and lived from their dreams! Their whole culture was based on the dream coming first! Therefore some people are accustomed to receiving true spiritual communication in dreams and in the dream culture. People were proficient in reading their dreams! Some people like prophets had great dreams like Black Elk's visions! Most people had smaller dreams significant to them only. Many people communicated with their departed relatives in dreams knowing that one day they too would find them again in the dream. The dream being held more real than the earthly life....the earthly life being a temporary but necessary illusion! However, being that dreams are elusive, affirmation was always necessary for the safety of the Tribe or community.

In other words, one could not just come up with a dream and expect the whole community to follow the direction of the dream or dreamer! Dreams had to be affirmed or authenticated otherwise there was danger of deceit from someone who may want power and this could endanger the whole Tribe! There were ways to do this. Sometimes, once a dream was authenticated, it was reenacted in order to begin the process of a new direction! These people had a different concept of time too! Everything being lived in cycles of sun, moon and star systems. There were some Tribes who had little concept of future...mostly, life was lived in the present. How a dream was affirmed by the community was particularly important because spirit will speak to one as well as to another and their dreams often paralleled or different people got different pieces of the dream so that they could work it out in a harmonious manner. Like different pieces of the same puzzle. Non native societies have lost the importance of dreams in the manner that the Old Testament demonstrates and do not place much importance in them anymore yet it can be found that many discoveries came from dreams that gave clues to the inventor who needed to finish a difficult project like electricity! Even Einstein said that "in life there is only the dream and that one must go with the dream!" So even he learned that important lesson after all his efforts!

So! Who are the Metis? To be sure it involves native blood and native spirituality combined. We know the blood gives us the DNA and the spirit will follow the DNA or better said determines the DNA being the pattern of life of which we are fashioned! The dominant DNA will carry a person through life! To be certain one can be tested now. This gives the proof of one's native ancestry if one cannot find it in genealogy! In the final analysis we have yet to come together and agree to the improper question of What is a Metisse! Certainly, before we can do that the "wannabe" problem needs to be resolved. It is being used to hurt people in every imaginable way. Natives use it against mixed bloods for non acceptance; non natives used it against natives as encroachment; and the real Metis is stuck in the middle. Everybody is fighting over whom is Metis or who is Indian and or non Indian! Elders wonder why anyone would want to be a wannabe when lots of native people wannabe white with a its apparent privileges and acceptance! Whites cannot understand why an Indian might want to be white! Well, of course the answer is in racism and all its subtle intricacies!

The white race having assumed its superiority over everyone else has caused these confusions. Whites who feel a tremendous guilt over what their ancestors have done find a pseudo redemption in wanting to assume Native identity...yet, rather than finding redemption they find a place to temporarily hide from the truth and convince themselves they are native! They can never really be native anyway nor can they hide from history! What they could do however is become Native like. Go to the Native people and explain their feelings or desire to learn native ways and ask permission for acceptance. This would be better received by Native people because it is honest and something could be worked out. That would help to repair a lot of hurt and begin to cement new relations and friendship!

Something quite nice could evolve from this especially if one became creative. A new group could emerge that could ally itself with both the Native and Metis aboriginal nations! They would however have to give up land and benefit claims. Knowledge could be shared; ceremonies could be done in a new and respectful manner and people could be united in friendship...true friendship...In fact what better place to be if not Indian to be the true friend of Indian people since Indian people historically treat their friends so well? This is the reason early captives often opted to remain with their captors rather than returning to non Indian society. it might be too ate but we will never know unless it is tried. Metis people would find their identity no longer threatened and it would not be necessary any more for people to try to pass as something they are not. I personally have no idea how close or how far we are from this possibility but it is one solution. Many Metis are seeking to resolve this problem in their minds at least but the word would have to spread for any real action to take place. Maybe it starts here only as one of the potential solutions to this big unnecessary problem.

Wishing everyone abundance,

Sundance Aquero Sharp
AKA: Louise-Andree Ethier
Yuma, Arizona

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