Métis in Alberta

Alberta's Métis people are descendants of mixed First Nations/Indigenous peoples and White/European families. The Métis are considered an aboriginal group under Canada's Constitution Act, 1982. They are separate and distinct from First Nations, though they live in the same regions and have cultural similarities, and have different legal rights.

Different Métis groups attempted to combine the joint influences of the Manitoba Métis Federation, the Métis Nation of Alberta, and the Métis Nation Saskatchewan. This was done in hopes that Alberta's Métis would receive land and resource rights.

In Alberta, unlike in the rest of Canada, Métis people have certain lands reserved for them under the Métis Population Betterment Act of 1938, known today as the eight Métis settlements. These Métis settlements federated in 1975 to protect existing Métis settlement lands following the Alberta Government's dissolution, by order-in-council of four Métis settlements from 1950 to 1960. Following legal challenges by the Federation of Métis Settlements in 1975 for the loss of natural resource against Alberta, the Crown in Right of Alberta settled out of court and passed a suite of legislation that would see self-government, land, and money transferred to the newly formed government of the Métis Settlements General Council (MSGC), Canada’s only Métis self-government. The MSGC is the legislator of the Federation of Métis Settlements. The MSGC is the second largest land owner in the Province of Alberta.

Most people who self-identify as Métis in Alberta do not live in a Métis settlement. According to the 2016 census, 57.7% of self-reported Métis in Alberta lived in either Census Division No. 11 (which includes the Edmonton Metropolitan Region) or Census Division No. 6 (which includes the Calgary Metropolitan Region), with the majority of those residing in Edmonton. These Métis people are represented politically by one of three organizations – the Métis Nation of Alberta (founded in 1928), the Alberta Métis Federation (founded in 2020), or the Aboriginal Congress of Alberta Association.