The Metis people of St. Laurent, Manitoba : an introductory ethnology ...

• Main Author: Lavallée, Guy Albert Sylvestre
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2010
• Subjects: Metis
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0097651; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0097651

This thesis examines the lives of a people, the Metis or the Michifs as they call themselves at St.Laurent, Manitoba. The Metis people were generally referred to as the off-springs of the Native Indian women and of the Europeans during the fur trade era. One hundred and thirty years ago, they enjoyed at Red River a successful economic way of life that was highly integrated to the land and to the environment. The Metis, at the time, were a proud race and called themselves the 'New Nation'. In 1870, after seeing Manitoba become a province within Confederation, their leader Louis Riel, was expelled from his homeland and the Metis gradually became, over the years, a socially and economically marginalized people. The purpose of this thesis is to document the process by which a particular Metis community at St.Laurent, Manitoba, is moving or has moved from being a self-contained community to a condition in which some aspects of their lives appear more generally 'Canadian' than specifically Metis. Due to the ...