Eastern Mtis: Chronicling and Reclaiming a Denied Past

(Paperback)

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In Eastern Mtis, Michel Bouchard, Sbastien Malette, and Siomonn Pulla demonstrate the historical and social evidence for the origins and continued existence of Mtis communities across Ontario, Quebec, and the Canadian Maritimes as well as the West. Contributors to this edited collection explore archival and historical records that challenge narratives which exclude the possibility of Mtis communities and identities in central and eastern Canada. Taking a continental rhizomatic approach, this book provides a rich and nuanced view of what it means to be Mtis.

Reviews

This is a challenging book that weighs in on the controversial and divisive debate of who has the right to claim capital "M" Mtis status in Canada. The collection assembles essays by scholars of anthropology, sociology, law, history, linguistics, geography, and interdisciplinary studies, purporting to present historical and social evidence of the origins and continued existence of cohesive Mtis communities in Ontario, Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and (despite the title) the Pacific Northwest region of Canada. Challenging the "nationalist trope" that only the Red River Mtis of the northern Plains can claim Mtis identity, this collection directly challenges the perspective of scholars like Jacqueline Peterson, Darryl Leroux, Adam Gaudry, and Jesse Thistle, not to mention the established Canadian legal view asserting that other claims to Mtis status are little more than "race shifting"a tactical use of long-ago racial mixing to reimagine a "Mtis" identity and thus assert treaty rights. This book by no means settles the debate, but is nonetheless a thought-provoking contribution to the complicated topic of mixed Indigenous-settler identity, which will undoubtedly continue to spark controversy and inspire further study. Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty.

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Eastern Mtis: Chronicling and Reclaiming a Denied Past is long overdue and opens up important new understandings of our shared pasts.

-- Jean Barman, University of British Columbia; author of French Canadians, Furs, and Indigenous Women in the Making of the Pacific Northwest

Author Bio

Michel Bouchard is professor of anthropology at the University of Northern British Columbia.

Sbastien Malette is associate professor in the Department of Law and Legal Studies at Carleton University, Ottawa.

Siomonn Pulla is associate professor in the College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Royal Roads University.