Métis

In the Canadian socio-historical context, a Métis is a person of mixed Aboriginal and European descent. Within the narrower context of the history of the Canadian west and, more specifically, that of Manitoba in the second half of the nineteenth century, a Métis was a person with White and Aboriginal ancestors, he or she was Francophone and Catholic and belonged to a cultural group with shared customs, values and lifestyle. The legal battles that the Métis had to conduct reinforced their cultural identity and the ties that bound them.