A 19th century community of the

Métis people The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They hav ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, the Anglo-Métis, more commonly known as Countryborn, were children of fur traders; they typically had Scots ( Orcadian, mainland Scottish), or English fathers and Indigenous mothers, often

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

, Anishinaabekwe (notably often

Saulteaux The Saulteaux (pronounced , or in imitation of the French pronunciation , also written Salteaux, Saulteau and Ojibwa ethnonyms, other variants), otherwise known as the Plains Ojibwe, are a First Nations in Canada, First Nations band governm ...

), Nakoda, amongst others.Brown, J. S. H. (1985). “Diverging identities: The Presbyterian Métis of St. Gabriel Street, Montreal.” In Peterson, J. & Brown, J. (eds.) ''The New Peoples: Being and Becoming Métis in North America'' (pp. 195-206). Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press. They were also known as "English halfbreeds." Some Anglo-Metis still identify by this name.Adams, C., Peach, I., Dahl, G. (eds.) (2013). ''Métis in Canada: History, Identity, Law & Politics''. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press. Their first languages were generally those of their mothers:

Assiniboine The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakoda ...

, etc. and English. Some of their fathers spoke Gaelic or Scots, leading to the development of the

creole language A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable form of contact language that develops from the process of different languages simplifying and mixing into a new form (often a pidgin), and then that form expanding and elaborating into a full-fl ...

known as " Bungee". Some scholars have started spelling Métis as "Metis" to acknowledge the presence and contributions of the Anglo-Métis and the complex history of the Métis people overall. __TOC__

History

The Anglo-Métis, like their francophone cousins, lived in the Prairies and the area adjacent to the

Red River Colony The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement), also known as Assiniboia, was a colonization project set up in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, on of land in British North America. This land was granted to Douglas by the Hudson's Bay ...

but also in fur trading and military settlements in Ontario along the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

Campbell, S. ““I shall settle, marry, and trade here": British military personnel and their mixed-blood descendants.” (2007). In Lischke, U. & McNab, D., (eds.) ''The Long Journey of a Forgotten People: Métis Identities and Histories'' (pp. 81-108). Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. and

James Bay James Bay (, ; ) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. It borders the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, and is politically part of Nunavut. Its largest island is Akimiski Island. Numerous waterways of the ...

. There also some records of Anglo-Métis families descending from relationships between British soldiers and Indigenous women of various tribes. They then tended to identify more with the politically and economically dominant British culture of Canada. If they were descended from Scottish fur traders and Indigenous women, they were often baptized as part of the Presbyterian church if their fathers chose to acknowledge their existence. Case studies have been done on the birth and baptism registers at the St. Gabriel Street Presbyterian Church in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

because it provides a good example of how Métis children adjusted to staying temporarily or living in an urban environment that was considerably foreign compared to the remote, rural fur trading settlements or Indigenous camps in which they were born. Thus, most Anglo-Métis were the result of relationships, officially recognized by the Church or not, between English and Scottish fur traders and Indigenous women.Brown, J. S. H. (1980). ''Strangers in Blood: Fur Trade Families in Indian Country''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.Van Kirk, S. (1976). “‘The Custom of the Country’: An Examination of Fur Trade Marriage Practices.” In Thomas, L. H. (ed.), ''Essays on Western History in Honour of Lewis Gwynne Thomas'' (pp. 49-68). Edmonton: University of Alberta Press. The ethnicity of their fathers also determined which of the competing fur trading companies they might end up working for as adults. If they were descended from English fur traders, they generally worked for the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

. If they were descended from Scottish fur traders, they generally worked for the

North West Company The North West Company was a Fur trade in Canada, Canadian fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in the regions that later became Western Canada a ...

, also known as "Nor'Westers." Additionally, the Anglo-Métis/Countryborn had a more

sedentary lifestyle Sedentary lifestyle is a Lifestyle (social sciences), lifestyle type, in which one is physically inactive and does little or no physical movement and/or exercise. A person living a sedentary lifestyle is often sitting or lying down while enga ...

of farming than the francophone

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

community, whose men were generally hunters and trappers. The French-speaking Métis were somewhat more

nomadic Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pa ...

because they relied upon hunting as a trade and food resource. The Anglo-Métis played a role in both the

Red River Rebellion The Red River Rebellion (), also known as the Red River Resistance, Red River uprising, or First Riel Rebellion, was the sequence of events that led up to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by Métis leader Louis Riel and his f ...

of 1869 and the

North-West Rebellion The North-West Rebellion (), was an armed rebellion of Métis under Louis Riel and an associated uprising of Cree and Assiniboine mostly in the District of Saskatchewan, against the Government of Canada, Canadian government. Important events i ...

of 1885, as they suffered from similar issues of racial discrimination and land problems as their

francophone The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...

brethren. By the 19th century, the English-speaking and French-speaking Métis had become quite similar culturally and were moving closer to each other in opposition to the British-Canadian majority. Their musical traditions, especially in the case of fiddle music, were derived from both British Isles and France, as was the Métis traditional dance referred to as "jigging," or the "Red River Jig." Their complexion ranged from fair skinned, blond hair, and blue eyed to dark skinned, with dark hair and dark eyes. Métis elders say that no distinctions were made between individuals based upon complexion within the community. Family, culture, and strong identification with their Christian faith were the unifying bond them. The two communities' primary differences lay in their languages and Christian religious affiliations those of French descent were generally

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, and those of British descent were

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

. Most Countryborn were

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

. They were involved in a mixed economy of

subsistence farming Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow crops on smallholdings to meet the needs of themselves and their families. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements. Planting decisions occ ...

and

bison A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American ...

hunting throughout most of the 19th century and also found employment with the

and the

. The Countryborn were often known in the 19th century as "mixed-bloods," "Black Scots," "Native English," or "Half-Breeds" (the last term is now considered pejorative). The French-speaking Metis referred to them simply as ''les métis anglais'' or ''les autres métis''. Anglo-Metis gradually came to see themselves as being hardly different from the French-speaking Métis. Today, the two groups are no longer politically distinct, and are commonly known on the

Canadian Prairies The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...

simply as Métis. Prominent Anglo-Métis/Countryborn include James Isbister, Thomas McKay, and John Norquay.

References

* Barkwell, Lawrence J., Leah Dorion, and Audreen Hourie. ''Metis legacy Michif culture, heritage, and folkways'', ''Metis Legacy series, v. 2'', Saskatoon: Gabriel Dumont Institute, 2006. *Barkwell, Lawrence J., Leah Dorion and Darren Prefontaine. ''Metis Legacy: A Historiography and Annotated Bibliography'', Winnipeg: Pemmican Publications Inc. and Saskatoon: Gabriel Dumont Institute, 2001.
"Metis: The Western Metis"
''The Canadian Encyclopedia''

From Rupert's Land to Canada

* Oral histories of Manitoba and Saskatchewan Metis/Michif Elders. {{DEFAULTSORT:Anglometis Culture of Canada Métis in Canada Scottish diaspora in Canada English diaspora in Canada Scottish-American history

History

See also

References