Eastern Métis - by Michel Bouchard & Sébastien Malette & Siomonn Pulla (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Pushed to the historical and social margins for too long, Eastern Métis reviews the record of these sidelined communities and the effort to reclaim their past. This book is the first-ever scholarly endeavor to trace the emergence and consolidation of Métis identities from the Atlantic Coast to Ontario and beyond.

Review Quotes

Eastern Métis: Chronicling and Reclaiming a Denied Past is long overdue and opens up important new understandings of our shared pasts.

This is a challenging book that weighs in on the controversial and divisive debate of who has the right to claim capital "M" Métis status in Canada. The collection assembles essays by scholars of anthropology, sociology, law, history, linguistics, geography, and interdisciplinary studies, purporting to present historical and social evidence of the origins and continued existence of cohesive Métis communities in Ontario, Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and (despite the title) the Pacific Northwest region of Canada. Challenging the "nationalist trope" that only the Red River Métis of the northern Plains can claim Métis identity, this collection directly challenges the perspective of scholars like Jacqueline Peterson, Darryl Leroux, Adam Gaudry, and Jesse Thistle, not to mention the established Canadian legal view asserting that other claims to Métis status are little more than "race shifting"--a tactical use of long-ago racial mixing to reimagine a "Métis" identity and thus assert treaty rights. This book by no means settles the debate, but is nonetheless a thought-provoking contribution to the complicated topic of mixed Indigenous-settler identity, which will undoubtedly continue to spark controversy and inspire further study. Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty.

About the Author

Michel Bouchard is professor of anthropology at the University of Northern British Columbia.

Sébastien Malette is associate professor in the Department of Law and Legal Studies at Carleton University, Ottawa.

Siomonn Pulla is associate professor in the College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Royal Roads University.