We think of Metis as having Prairie roots. Quebec doesn't recognize a historical Metis community, and the Metis National Council contests the existence of any Metis east of Ontario. Quebec residents who seek recognition as Metis under the Canadian Constitution therefore face an uphill legal and political battle. Who is right? Bois-Brules examines archival and ethnographic evidence to challenge two powerful nationalisms - Metis and Quebecois - that interpret Metis identity in the province as "race-shifting." This controversial work, previously available only in French, conclusively demonstrates that a Metis community emerged in early-nineteenth-century Quebec and can be traced all the way to today.

In Eastern Metis, Michel Bouchard, Sebastien Malette, and Siomonn Pulla demonstrate the historical and social evidence for the origins and continued existence of Metis 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 Metis 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 Metis.

We think of Métis as having Prairie roots. Quebec doesn’t recognize a historical Métis community, and the Métis National Council contests the existence of any Métis east of Ontario. Quebec residents who seek recognition as Métis under the Canadian Constitution therefore face an uphill legal and political battle. Who is right? Bois-Brûlés examines archival and ethnographic evidence to challenge two powerful nationalisms – Métis and Québécois – that interpret Métis identity in the province as “race-shifting.� This controversial work, previously available only in French, conclusively demonstrates that a Métis community emerged in early-nineteenth-century Quebec and can be traced all the way to today.

Derided as being fake, race-shifting, cultural appropriators, Eastern Metis demonstrates the historical and social evidence for the origins and continued existence of Metis communities across Ontario and the Canadian Maritimes as well as the West. The authors in this volume explore the archival and historical record that challenges dominant nationalist tropes of all stripes, narratives which exclude the very possibility of legitimate Metis communities and identities in central and eastern Canada. Taking a continental rhizomatic approach, the book provides a rich and nuanced view of what it means to be Metis.

Before the Davie Crockets, the Daniel Boones and Jim Bridgers, the French had pushed far west and north establishing trade and kin networks across the continent. They founded settlements that would become great cities such as Detroit, Saint Louis, and New Orleans, but their history has been largely buried or relegated to local lore or confined to Quebec. In this seminal work, Foxcurran, Bouchard, and Malette Scrutinize primary sources and uncover the alliances, organic links and metissage, or mixing, between early French settlers and voyageurs and the indigenous nations. It began with the founding of New France by Samuel de Champlain in the early 1600s and continued well into the 19th century long after France was no longer a force in North America. The authors' keen and accessible story telling, combined with vintage maps, forgotten documents (such as the little known writings of Alexis de Tocqueville), and old photos or paintings propel the account of the peoples engendered and still thriving, their French lingua franca, and their ways of life back into the heart of the narrative of North American history where they belong. Songs Upon the Rivers also challenges historical orthodoxies regarding the Canadien Metis. These descendants of the French with mixed ancestry developed a hybrid culture with close kinship ties with indigenous peoples across the continent. They kept their French songs and language, which effectively made French the lingua franca of the American and Canadian West well into the 19th century.