Rob Rakochey called the meeting to order. The indigenous fact for today came via Farid Bedwany. 

 

Metis people have a long and interesting history in Canada.

 

Beginning in the mid-1600s European fur traders began to have children with Indigenous women, predominately Cree, and a new indigenous identity came to be called Metis. The Metis identity developed its own distinctive culture that was a blend of Indigenous and European influence, including as language called “Michif”

 

Metis people knew both European and Indigenous languages, so they became a logical bridge between the settlers and Indigenous communities. Because of the fur trade, Metis communities settled and grew in the areas that were strategic to the trade in Western Canada. They worked as guides and interpreters and operated forts and trading companies in the west.

 

The Metis were once known as “Canada’s forgotten people” since they were excluded from treaties and not recognized as their own separate culture. On April 14, 2016 the Supreme Court of Canada delivered its unanimous decision in the Daniels case which ruled Metis and Non Status Indians are indeed considered “Indians” as outlined under the Constitution Act, 1967.