Métis
The Métis (/meɪˈtiː(s)/ may-TEE(S); French: [metis]; Canadian French: [meˈtsɪs]; Michif: [mɪˈtʃɪf]) are an Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, Northwest Ontario and the northern United States. They have a shared history and culture, deriving from specific mixed European (primarily French, Scottish, and English) and Indigenous ancestry, which became distinct through ethnogenesis by the mid-18th century, during the early years of the North American fur trade.
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 624,220 (2021) | |
| Canada | 624,220 |
| United States | Unknown |
| Languages | |
| Michif, Cree, Canadian French, North American English, Hand Talk, Bungee, other Indigenous languages | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Christianity (Roman Catholicism and Protestantism) | |
| Métis | |
|---|---|
| People | Métis |
| Language | Michif Métis French Hand Talk |
| Country | Michif Piyii |
In Canada, the Métis, with a population of 624,220 as of 2021, are one of three major groups of Indigenous peoples that were legally recognized in the Constitution Act of 1982, the other two groups being the First Nations and Inuit.
Smaller communities who self-identify as Métis exist in Canada and the United States, such as the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana. The United States recognizes the Little Shell Tribe as an Ojibwe Native American tribe.
Alberta is the only Canadian province with a recognized Métis land base: the eight Métis settlements, with a population of approximately 5,000 people on 1.25 million acres (5,100 km2) and the newer Metis lands near Fort McKay, purchased from the Government of Alberta in 2017.