By Darryl Leroux

I was just wrapping up a chapter entitled: “Hyperdescent and the Political Use of Indigenous Women Ancestors.” It’s about how the same handful of Indigenous women act as the “root” ancestor for white-settler people to become “Indigenous”. So far, I’ve identified 4 women who are each used to become “Métis” in QC, “Algonquin” in Ontario & “Abenaki” in Vermont and New Hampshire. Despite efforts of lobbyists, advocates and a few academics who support the “Eastern Métis” movement to suggest otherwise, I’m identifying hundreds of examples of people who are becoming “Indigenous” solely on the basis of blood/genes. That’s it. Full stop.

What are the politics of white people today claiming a 300+ year-old “connection” with an Indigenous woman as the sole basis of their Indigeneity? One of the aspects of my research so far that is striking is how many more men self-id as Métis in the census in Québec and Nova Scotia than women. Knowing this, what are the gender + race politics of this self-indigenization movement? Why does it appeal more to (white) men? This is particularly notable, because in the rest of the country, slightly more women identify as Métis than men (range of 0.5%-2%). So, again, why do hundreds more men identify as Métis than women in the Eastern provinces?

One thing that I’ve been noticing in my research is the remarkable place that hunting rights occupy in the “métis” movement in QC. The 2 major organizations that I’m studying most closely (20,000+ members) start out as movement of white hunters opposing Indigenous rights.

In fact, the current “chief” of one of them openly discusses how a local hunting and fishing association that he set up with a few hunting buddies becomes the “métis” org in the region (9 initial members-founders) after they find out about Powley decision. That same organization is now the largest self-identified “métis” org in the country and is currently in court to have their “Aboriginal” rights recognized under Powley. They proudly discuss how their activism led to the cancellation of a land claim with local Mi’kmaq. Further, they reclaim several ancestors from 1600s who are not Indigenous as “Indigenous” root ancestors in their membership policy. As do all of the major “métis” orgs in QC.

So, not only are they reclaiming a 300+ year-old ancestral connection with an actual Indigenous woman, but they’re also transforming European women ancestors into Indigenous women ancestors for the purpose of their policy aims (increasing membership, raising more $, etc.). They openly discuss how previous efforts to oppose Indigenous rights working in anti-treaty, anti-Indigenous and/or white rights orgs wasn’t working … so, here comes Powley, and they figure that using their long-ago Indigenous ancestry would be politically advantageous.

Oh! And the documents that I have, produced by the two largest orgs themselves, explicitly discuss how becoming “Indigenous” was their only viable political strategy in order to oppose either Innu or Mi’kmaw land claims/territorial rights.

And they’re right. By becoming “métis” in 2 quite distinct regions of Québec, they put a stop to Indigenous land claim negotiations, either directly by legal action or indirectly, by supporting white settlers and opposing Indigenous people in their specific region.

To be clear, I’m not saying that everybody who identifies as “métis” in Québec or Nova Scotia supports these types of politics, nor am I saying that everybody claiming such an identity is non-Indigenous.

Ultimately, it’s up to those who are newly-identifying as Indigenous to reconnect with the Indigenous kin they’re reclaiming as “family”, in ways that @damienlee, @KimTallBear, @DrChrisAndersen, @ZoeSTodd and many other talented Indigenous scholars have articulated.

But I am saying, again, along the lines of Métis scholars such as @adamgaudry @apihtawikosisan and @jenniferahday (and many others who are not on twitter!), that these people out east are not “métis”, in the same way that they’re not Cree or Dene, etc.

BUT, if you’re claiming to be “Eastern Métis”, it becomes more + more difficult to claim that you’re not supportive of these anti-indigenous politics- they’re the basis of much of the “Eastern Métis” movement since Marshall decision in NB and NS and Powley decision in QC.

I see it in my data set every day … I have “blood”, how can I use it to protect my/our (white) rights? Blood, and increasingly genes, are mobilized to not just undermine, but flat out erase the idea of distinct Indigenous political rights.

My research on this topic receives an inordinate amount of attention from “Eastern Métis” orgs, which is understandable. It usually involves personal attacks, efforts to contact my employer, radical distortions of my arguments, etc. The Métis Federation of Canada – with the support of Prof. Sébastien Malette and volunteer Johanne Brissette- even went so far as to call on the University of Montréal to cancel my talk there in September because I “incite hate speech” and support genocide (!)

Their efforts backfired, of course, as the event went over extremely well and led to an explosion of new contacts and connections. But their recent threats to sue me for calling attention to their actions will not deter my work. Nonetheless, Sébastien Malette, Johanne Brissette, and the MFC continue to follow my every move online (even though blocked); I’m asking people to pay attention to their escalating aggressive behaviour.

This is a public debate about political matters that are incredibly important to many of us. It’s not a new debate, it has been going on 4 decades.

I started this research because of curiosity with my own ancestral background, not 2 oppose or support anything/one in particular. I have many of the same Indigenous women ancestors in my genealogy as the large majority of white people now claiming to be “Indigenous” (Métis in QC, Abenaki in VT/NH + Algonquin in ON), according to my analysis of 3,000+ member genealogies from four organizations. In fact, since I have identified 4 of the most common ancestors in my genealogy, I have significantly more than the average found among members of these orgs (that’s 4 among 400+ “root” ancestors, btw). Also, I engage in many of types of cultural activities that are evoked as the basis of these new “Indigenous” identities (hunting, fishing, etc.) – in the few times that “culture” is brought up at all. And family rumours about our presumed “Indigeneity” were common growing up. But again, none of that makes me Indigenous, nor does it on its own make other French-descendants Indigenous. None of the orgs or individuals advocating for “Eastern Métis” want you to know that blood is all it takes to become a member/become “métis”, “Abenaki”, “Algonquin”…

I have reviewed 1000s documents in the past 6 months, and race shifters (Circe Sturm’s concept) do not discuss kinship relations with existing Indigenous peoples. This is what tells me that I’m not Indigenous, and that the large majority of race shifters are not Indigenous.  Blood with a long-ago ancestor(s), hunting and fishing, and family rumours — if that is what made one Indigenous, literally millions of CDNS would qualify. As Sturm has explained, it takes “extended social contact with race shifters” for one to go from ancestry to identity. And that’s what I’m seeing in my research – white settlers, mostly French-descendants, come to know each other in movements that oppose Indigenous rights … after Powley, they encourage each other and others like them to become “métis.” And in becoming “métis”, they find a politically effective strategy to oppose Indigenous land claims/territorial rights, ensuring white folks’s dominance.