Anglo-Métis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A division of the Métis people of Canada, the Anglo-Métis were children of the fur trade; typically of Orkney, Scottish or English paternal descent and Aboriginal maternal descent.
Forming communities in Red River and the Saskatchewan Valley, they generally had fewer problems with the expansion of the Canadian state westward during the 19th Century. Nonetheless, they played a role in both the Red River Rebellion of 1869 and the Northwest Rebellion of 1885, suffering from racism and land problems along with their francophone brethren.
The Anglo-Métis were culturally quite similar to the French Métis, differing mainly in their language and Protestant religion. Most Anglo-Métis were Anglican or Presbyterian. They were involved in a mixed economy of subsistence farming and bison hunting throughout most of the 19th century; they also found employment with the Hudson Bay Company and the Northwest Company.
The Anglo-Métis were often known in the 19th century as "mixed-bloods", "countryborn," "native english" or "halfbreeds," a term now considered pejorative. The French Metis referred to them simply as "les metis anglais," or "les autres metis." Thus, they gradually came to see themselves as little different from their French Métis brethren. In the 20th Century and today, the two groups stopped being politically distinct, and are commonly known on the Canadian Prairies simply as Métis.
Prominent Anglo-Métis include James Isbister, and John Norquay, the Premier of Manitoba from 1878 to 1887.
