Integration & Mobility

Metis women from La Ronge and area in Northern Saskatchewan were respondents interviewed by Doris and Irene Poelzer for their study on Metis women's experiences in their home-communities. Numerous respondents reported discrepancies in the types of work available for men and women. They also reported discrepancies in the wages of men and women, with men being paid more for the same work. For example, these respondents stated that the types of jobs available for women were those that restricted them to traditionally feminized work, such as caregiving/nurturing, feeding, serving or providing instruction. That is, although job opportunities are scarce in the northern part of the province, those that were available for women were typically concession work, cleaning, health-related, teaching and clerical. These women believed that they had the same intellectual capacities as men, and that they should not be restricted (Poelzer 1985, 21-22).

One stated, “Women need training for jobs...I don’t want women to have the kind of life I had before” (Poelzer 1985, 23).

There was also a need expressed for support from one’s community and romantic partner. For example, women who ran for public office positions such as the school board believed that they were discriminated against because of their gender, and thus received few votes. In another example, women found that men refused to take instruction from them because of their gender. Overall, some respondents felt that men ignored, underestimate or exploited their Metis female co-workers (Poelzer 1985, 24-26).-

Metis women in Poelzer’s study also spoke extensively on the impact of religion in their life and the community. This impact was construed as both positive and negative. One respondent noted, “The church has been so much a part of exploitation”, as it provided a variety of services including education, health, employment and welfare. However, this also provided church officials with a great degree of control over the community, in which they took advantage of their privileged position by humiliating some individuals and also keeping community members dependent and indebted to their services. For example, individuals in the community must be church members in order to access services (Poelzer 1985, 27-36).

As well, women as a demographic are more likely to live in poverty and are often perceived to be primarily responsible for child-rearing. The financial burden resulting from poverty and raising children often results in a greater degree of reliance on these services. Metis women in the communities surveyed noted that church control was exerted by shaming women who practiced family planning or separated from a violent spouse. They also noted that they would be shamed for living common-law, even though some women declared that cohabitation gave them a greater degree of control, equality and autonomy than marriage.

One woman described the social pressure (resulting from the internalization of Christian moral norms) this way:

“You don’t feel right when you stay with the man without marrying him. It is just that when you go to some places, somebody asks if he is your husband, and you have to lie most of the time. You say ‘yes’ and you are lying. So it hurts you that way...And when you get kids, somebody is going to tell (them) that ‘he is not your dad. That is not your mother’s husband.’ It is not very nice very much” (Poelzer 1985, 49).

Another woman reported a more direct form of religious pressure: “...The church feels that if you are living common-law, you are not following the religion...marriage is quite a big thing” (Poelzer 1985, 49).

In contrast, Metis women respondents reported that common-law arrangements allowed for an easier separation if men were discovered to be immature or abusive. They also reported that such an arrangement prevented male romantic partners from perceiving his wife as property, that is, of possessing rights of ownership over her body or labour. An arrangement of cohabitation, therefore, was perceived to prevent domestic violence as well as prevent men from becoming jealous or of forgetting their household responsibilities.

Overall, women who received social services through the church were made to feel obligated to meet the expectations of religious officials by adhering to their moral and purity ideals (Poelzer 1985, 31-49). 

With the advent of Treaties 8 and 10, the vast resources of Northern Saskatchewan became available to exploit by the federal, and later the provincial governments (Quiring 2004, 40). However, much like many other dealings between First Nations people and the Canadian governments, a regime of exploitation established itself. In the case of resources in Northern Saskatchewan, so-called “co-management” regimes have been established. In principle, these structures are designed to incorporate First Nations people into decision making and benefit sharing processes, but in fact the opposite has occurred. According to Castro and Nielson “national laws, policies, and administrative structures continue to favor centralized control” (Castro and Neilson 2001, 236). In other words, colonial control. Again, according to Castro and Nielson “At the less participatory end of the scale are advisory councils, review committees, and other forums aimed solely at public consultation with state resource managers” (Castro and Nielson 201, 235). This type of organization limits the control and input that Indigenous people have in relation to their resources. An example of this type of organization can be found in the Northern Saskatchewan Environmental Quality Committee, or the NSEQC. According to Bethany Haalboom, the NSEQC “…has no regulatory responsibilities, with its ‘...function primarily to receive, evaluate and transmit information and recommendations... to exert influence on the way in which development occurs’” (Haalboom 2014, 283). Haalboom notes that while attending meetings of the committee from 2010 to 2012, various grievances were aired by First Nations representatives. While discussing a plan to transport uranium slurry by road, one representative notes that “Is there experience anywhere in the world with a spill of slurry or yellowcake? They mentioned the ship from Vancouver. These are rough roads—you keep emphasizing that the containers won’t break, but too many times you’re proven wrong; 1/17000 years chance of a spill, but what’s happening in Japan right now? I wonder what they were telling their people. Man can’t really predict—it can’t be guaranteed, ever.” In response, the industrial representative that was being addressed stated: “There have been spills in Saskatchewan and other places like Niger. We remediated and cleaned up, and satisfied regulators we had not injured wildlife and plants. We have measures in place so we never repeat these...risk is inherent to life on this earth, so it’s up to us to evaluate how much risk we’re willing to take. That’s why we come to talk to you...I would encourage you to follow the International Atomic Energy Agency website. The ship was brought back to Vancouver. The Cameco website has a clear update on what happened to that ship. There is also the CNSC website” (Haalboom 2014, 285). Other concerns were put forward concerned employment. According to one Aboriginal representative ““The north is where we make our living. You take these [environmental] risks at our cost, and we’re getting a few jobs. It’s not enough. We should get more, because we are taking a big risk to allow you to exploit our territories” (Haalboom 2014, 286). In general, a climate of distrust pervaded, as exemplified in this quote “Industry is always giving us these reports, but how much do they cover up? How much money is going to the SK government from industry? Northern people are going to be left with the ruins!” (Haalboom, 2016, 286).

Historian Peter Bakker writes that the ethnogenesis of the Metis began out of the pairings of people who were male European fur traders (French) and women who were Indigenous (Cree/Ojibwe). In Contours of a People (see "relevant resources" below), historians Brenda McDougall, Carolyn Podruchny and Nicole St. Onge write: "Studied together, the three characteristics [of Metis culture and nationhood that arise from these collected essays]—an expansive geographic familiarity, tremendous physical and social mobility, and maintenance of strong family ties across time and space—appear to have evolved as a result of an entrepreneurial spirit in a variety of economic niches associated with the fur trade writ large. The Metis were involved most famously in the large scale, commercial buffalo hunt specific to Plains Metis culture, but they were also involved in other important activities, including trapping and freighting, working on vast transportation networks that operated along waterways and cart trails, taking part in subsistence and commercial hunting and fishing operations, free trading, and performing contract jobs within the fur trade industry, all practiced in a variety of geographies encompassing plains, parklands, woodlands, and the subarctic. All these economic endeavors, and the cultural practices that subsequently emerged from them, contributed to a sense of shared community and contributed to the nationalist sentiment felt by many Metis today" (pages 7-8). These historians also discuss the formation of genealogical structures and extended family relationships as inherent to Metis identity. In light of the importance of kinship networks, the community fracturing and detriment to social well-being caused by land dispossession, diaspora and fragmentation of Metis people heading west becomes more apparent: "The link holding all of this together—mobility and geography—is found in the Metis conceptualization of family. Like many other societies throughout the world, the Metis created for themselves a system of extended family relationships within fixed communities and across these vast distances because of their tremendous mobility. Looking at subarctic Metis communities, Richard Slobodin argued that a widespread feature of Metis family and social life was an emphasis on family surnames as a means of inspiring and maintaining social and cultural unity. He attributed this particular cultural characteristic to the vastness of the region in which they lived, their relatively small population, and the range of economic activities in which they participated. Within a generation or two, the Metis developed a complex genealogical structure and shared knowledge by emphasizing those surnames as a key aspect of their identity" (pages 12-13). In the same book, historian Etienne Rivard notes the importance of Catholicism in Metis life, as indicated by primary sources: "Métis accounts also provide a sense of the importance of settlements in Métis community life. Describing the moral importance of Father Ritchot, Goulet emphasized the central role of the Catholic Church. Indeed, churches and religious figures regulated most of the central activities of community life in settlements—marriages, baptisms, funerals, and masses. The churches also affected patterns of settlement when they divided territory into parishes of specific religious adherence. Furthermore, Goulet stated that newcomers from Ontario in the 1850s affected the Red River communities, recalling his father’s sense of loss for the 'feeling of unity and friendship that had always been felt among those people of different races and religions'" (page 151).

Pemmican was essential to the fur trade and consisted of flaked game meat (often buffalo), fat and fruit (often berries). It was valued not only for its portability, longevity and high caloric value, but also because it prevented vitamin C deficiencies - also known as "scurvy".

A primary source interview with Joe Vandale indicates that some Metis fled the Batoche area following the end of the Riel Resistance.

A road allowance is land that had been surveyed and set apart by the government for future roads and development - it was the margin between provincial land and Crown land. The state simultaneously denied Métis land rights and also would not allow them to purchase land. The decision to permit Métis families to move onto road allowances was one that further perpetuated their economic marginalization. Some Métis found and occupied abandoned shacks and rail cars as housing was not provided on road allowances. After 1885, the Métis were effectively legally ignored by all levels of government until the 1930s, when a surge of Métis political organization engaged in consciousness-raising and mobilization.

Metis were denied their land rights following the Red River Resistance and Riel Resistance.  The land dispossession of many Metis resulted in their establishing residence on unoccupied road allowances on Crown land.  Metis people disposessed of their homelands and unable to reside in road allowance communities were pushed to find shelter on elsewhere.  

The Gabriel Dumont Institute, an institute for the preservation of Metis culture and education defines Mitchif (also known as Michif, Mechif, Michif-Cree, Métif, Métchif, French Cree, Michif/Mitchif-French and Métis-French) as "a very distinct dialect of Canadian French which has Cree and Ojibway syntax. Michif-French was once the object of fierce ridicule by Francophones—Breton French and French Canadians (Canayens)—who considered it as a “bad” form of French" (see "relevant resources" below). Primary source interviews (excerpted below in "relevant resources") describe many Metis languages, in addition to Mitchif, being spoken in Metis homes. These languages include French, Cree, Saulteaux, Dakota and Chipewyan. English became more commonplace in Metis homes as Metis children began to attend public and residential schools. Although, Metis people (particularly older speakers) have also adapted English to their own uses, creating a unique Metis dialect of English. There is also a history of loss of Metis languages due to a combination of factors. Experiences of racism both in schools and the larger community fostered an internalization of shame regarding Metis ethnic identity. This furthered the government's goals of assimilation of Indigenous people, as some Metis people hid their identity and learned to speak English in order to better integrate into mainstream, non-Indigenous society (please see related entry on cultural dislocation of Metis people through education and the related entry on general Metis experiences of racism). This was done to avoid discrimination - especially in education and employment (related entry on general Metis experiences of racism provides some evidence of this).

At the end of the Second World War, and as use of the illegal government-imposed pass system ended, Indigenous people began to migrate to urban areas in increasing numbers, seeking employment and education opportunities. In the primary source listed under "Relevant Resources" (on this page),Dorothy Askwith notes that the number of Indigenous people in the city increased after World War II had broken out as a result of Indigenous enlistment.

Cultural dislocation began during the Treaty and Residential School eras. Metis children attended residential schools, day schools and mainstream schools. Although the churches participating in residential/day schools wanted Metis children to attend, these children didn't qualify as "Indian", occasionally resulting in their rejection and subsequent attendance of classes in mainstream schools. However, mainstream or "white" schools also often rejected Metis children, leaving them in jurisdictional limbo and without an education (as an aside, a number of Metis children were in regions where the government refused to construct schools, later preventing the ability to find gainful employment - please see related entries on Metis education). For those who attended school, one of its results was the alienation of Metis children from their language and culture. Primary source interviews indicate that the public education system at the time privileged the language of the dominant culture - English - and children were instructed to speak this language only.

This privileging derived from usage of the education system as a tool to assimilate Indigenous children into mainstream western culture. In particular, Metis languages (Michif, Cree, French) were perceived as inferior to English. Although Metis history is central to the formation of the prairie geographical landscape, it was not considered “important” or legitimate Canadian history, and thus was rarely mentioned. When it was acknowledged, Indigenous people were portrayed as savages and Metis political actors, such as Louis Riel, were perceived as socially deviant and psychologically unstable criminals. Metis children were also shamed and harassed for their ethnic heritage at school.

In regard to Métis children, churches were eager to admit them to their boarding schools as it aligned with their goal to convert Indigenous children. However, ­the federal government policy on provision of schooling to Métis children was conflicted. It viewed the Métis as members of the ‘dangerous classes,’ Residential Schooling was implemented to ‘correct.’ However, from a jurisdictional perspective, the federal government believed that the responsibility for educating and assimilating Métis people lay within provincial and territorial jurisdiction. ­There was a concern that if the federal government began providing funding for the education of some of the children for whom the provinces and territories were responsible, it would find itself having to take responsibility for the rest.

 Because provincial governments and school boards were often unwilling to build schools in Métis communities or to allow Métis students to attend public schools, Métis parents who wished to have their children educated often had no choice but to send them to residential schools. Falling between federal and provincial jurisdictional conflicts, Métis children who attended Residential Schools often "slipped through the cracks". That is, their attendance was undocumented, one reason being because the boarding schools they attended were not recognized as official residential schools.

Métis children attended most of the residential schools from Saskatchewan that are named or discussed in the final TRC report. Métis children suffered in the same ways as other First Nations children did, undergoing experiences such as: high death rates, restricted diets and starvation, crowded and unsanitary housing, harsh discipline, heavy workloads, neglect and abuse (psychological, spiritual, physical and sexual). Many Métis children remember feeling rejected and discriminated against as they were too "white" for the Residential Schools, and too "Indian" for the provincial public schools. Many former students describe the trauma of being separated from their families.

For an example of Métis experience at residential schools, please consult the interview excerpt contained below under "sources", in which Helen Sinclair describes the cutting of her hair, subjection of students to the unhospitalized tonsil removal, conducted without the consent of their parents.