The Métis are one of the three main groups of the Aborigninal people. The Métis are a very interesting group of Aboriginal people. One of the main things that is very different from most Aboriginal groups is that they aren't just Aboriginal people, they are people that are born to Aboriginal and European people.
Overview
- The Métis people helped to shape the Canada of today, mainly in terms of the expansion of the west.
- The first Métis people were born in Eastern Canada as early as the 1600s. They were the children born to European fishermen and their Native wives.
- However, it was the Red River region, in present day Manitoba, where the Métis Nation was really first established.
- When the fur trade moved west, in the 1700s and 1800s, many French-Canadian fur traders found Native wives and had children. The children born from these unions formed a new Nation in Canada - the 'Western Métis'.
- Today there are 350,000-400,000 Métis in Canada.