While the term “Métis” is most commonly used today to recognize the culturally and politically distinct communities that emerged from Ontario westward beginning in the late 1700s, other terms such as “Halfbreed” or variations of it have also been used historically by both outsiders and the Métis communities themselves, particularly when advocating against Canadian territorial expansion.
In many cases, throughout history, the terms “Métis” and “Halfbreed” have been used interchangeably, or to describe nuanced cultural and political distinctions within the broader Métis People.
In its 2013 majority ruling in Manitoba Métis Federation v. Canada, for example, the Supreme Court of Canada highlighted the use of nuanced terminology to describe cultural and political distinctions that existed historically within the Red River community, stating: “In the early days, the descendants of English-speaking parents were referred to as half-breeds, while those with French roots were called Métis.”
The common interchangeable use of the terms “Métis” and “Halfbreed” in historical documents is similarly displayed in Section 31 of the Manitoba Act, which was under examination in the Manitoba Métis Federation v. Canada case. The English translation of Section 31 of the Manitoba Act is written as “Grant for the half-breeds”, whereas the official French translation reads “Titre indien Concessions aux Métis”. Both texts refer to the same promise to the same people and underscore the same common understanding of the two terms.
While numerous examples of the seamless interchangeability of “Métis” and “Halfbreed” exist from across the Métis Homeland throughout the historical record, it is perhaps most clearly displayed in a 1921 Toronto Star article to describe the distinct Métis community at Penetanguishene, where they are used directly side by side to support reader comprehension regardless of their language or background:
“Pinery Point is a wooded peninsula directly across the bay from Penetanguishene, the sands of which have given the town its Indian name of the ‘place of the white rolling sands.’ Along its shores dwells a group of people half French and half Indian, isolated in location, distinct in habits and privileges, and fiercely resentful of intrusion on either. It is the origin of these picturesque metis or halfbreeds … living chiefly in low log houses of a century ago, they are almost all illiterate and speak a broken English patois which is all their own.”
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