Metis Nation of Ontario

[debbieredbear]

I'm in a Facebook group called Metis Families, started by the late Gail Morin. Gail was a genealogist (and married to my late husband's cousin) who wrote many many books on Metis people.  The consensus of the group is that the Metis Nation of Ontario is that they are pretendians. Their genealogies don't show any relationship to Metis people.  Metis people in Canada are a pretty specific bunch.

[Sparks]

(discussion on the Metis Nation of Ontario https://www.tvo.org/article/what-is-the-metis-nation-of-ontario-and-why-is-it-so-controversial)

A long and thorough 2023 article with several illuminating clckable links. I couldn't find anything better on the topic.

About the entity that published the article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TVO

TVO (stylized in all lowercase as tvo), formerly known as TVOntario, is a Canadian publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario.

[debbieredbear]

I think they do merit their own thread. Apparently,  many of their members have no Indigenous ancestry. Also, having Indigenous ancestry does not mean a person is Metis. Metis is a very specific identity, rooted historically with French and Scottish fur traders who married Chippewa and Cree women. But that's not all. There are also ties to the Red River area and followers of Lois Riel. My late husband's father fit all the criteria,  even though he was enrolled in the Turtle Mountain Chippewa tribe in North Dakota. That's how I got on the Metis Families Facebook page.

[Sparks]

The Metis Nation of Ontario has been mentioned in three earlier comments (both pro and con) in the NAFPS forum.

They maintain a comprehensive web site: https://www.metisnation.org/

They are also on: • Twitter  • Facebook  • Instagram  • LinkedIn  • YouTube. See links at bottom of their website.

[Sandy S]

The MMF (Manitoba Métis Federation) is the only officially recognized Métis Government in Canada.

https://www.mmf.mb.ca/manitoba-metis-federation-the-national-government-of-the-red-river-metis

The MMF has developed an "objectively verifiable process" to identify both a Red River Métis Citizen and a Red River Métis Harvester. As part of this process the applicant must:

Self-identify as Red River Métis
Show an ancestral connection to the Historic Red River Métis Community
Be accepted by the contemporary Manitoba Red River Métis Community

https://www.mmf.mb.ca/citizenship-application-faqs

Note that a genealogy has to be completed by the St. Boniface Historical Society. Genealogy is then submitted to the MMF.

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"As debate continues over Métis communities in Ontario, the Wabun Tribal Council says none existed in its traditional territory."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OABs26mNRhs

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The MNO’s “facts” are actually inventions and wild distortions of history: The MNO is quite literally stealing First Nations Ancestors and re-writing their stories and appropriating the existence of mixed heritage individuals living in a common geographic to attempt to “create” a nation that never existed.

https://chiefs-of-ontario.org/the-chiefs-of-ontario-reject-ongoing-efforts-of-the-metis-nation-of-ontario-to-rewrite-history/