December 07, 2010

Métis Awareness Day

Metis culture alive and well

By Lindsay ChungOn the anniversary of Louis Riel’s execution in 1885, Mark R. Isfeld Secondary School students immersed themselves in Métis history and culture.

Students learned recently about beading, sash weaving, medicinal plants and more during School District 71’s recent Métis Awareness Day.

“We use that day to promote awareness of Métis culture,” said Jackie Lever, the district aboriginal curriculum development teacher. “It’s really important for kids to understand the diversity of the community around them so they’re not just thinking aboriginal and Métis people are in museum cases ... so they understand our history is a part of Canada, perhaps different than the history they are learning in school.”
Comment:  What's the biological difference between métis, who are part white and part Indian, and Latinos, who are also part white and part Indian? I don't know.

For more on the subject, see "Hanging" Louis Riel T-Shirts Offend Métis and What's the Difference Between Indian and Latino?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://www.metisnation.ca/

For more information about the Métis people.

Anonymous said...

One of the many (stress that word) differences is that many of the people whom you call "Latino/a" are descended from Spanish colonists and one/several of the Indigenous groups in Central and South America, as well as some of the southern states: They are Mestizo/a. The Métis are primarily French or Scottish, and Anishinaabeg, Cree, or Mi'kmaq. To be clear: There are a myriad ancestries that make up the Métis nation, and many different opinions on the topic of identity. In Central America (Costa Rica and Nicaragua, at least) most people call themselves Mestizo when asked, unless they are from a specific Indigenous nation.