Between the 1840s and early 1870s the western interior economy was characterized by the coexistence of native economies and European capitalism. By becoming middlemen in the fur trade, Metis individuals created an entrepreneurial niche for themselves, which was lucrative for many Metis merchant families. A few examples include the Grants, Brelands, McGillis, Gingras, Fishers, Letendres and Hamelins. As long as dual societies and economies persisted on the northern plains, these Metis traders prospered. The Metis “in-between” identity had the potential to be economically advantageous. Beginning in the mid to late 1870s, the disappearance of the buffalo and the movement of First Nations peoples to reserves led to a drastic alteration in the western economy and an end to the Metis’ influential middleman position.
Metis scholars such as Howard Adams and Ron Bourgeault have argued that discrimination and mistreatment by non-Indigenous settlers—not how the economy developed—was the main factor in the marginalization of the Metis.