White Settler Revisionism and Making Métis Everywhere: The Evocation of Métissage in Quebec and Nova Scotia

“Pop‐Up” Métis and the Rise of Canada's Post‐Indigenous Formation

“…It has become evident, however, that there is also a worrisome side to post‐Indigeneity, whereby historically non‐Indigenous people (e.g., insofar as a historical consciousness of being Indigenous is lacking) are also challenging modern conceptions of what it means to be Indigenous. Armed with the equivocality of DTC genetic ancestry testing and “Native American DNA,” there are increasing numbers of purportedly non‐Indigenous people in North America who are “popping up” as Indigenous in public and policy spheres for the first time as they reimagine Indigeneity in their own image (Gaudry and Leroux ; Sturm ).…”

“…Gaudry and Leroux () have termed the occurrence of spontaneous “pop‐up” Métis identification as settler self‐Indigenization . This phenomenon redefines Métis identity/difference by emphasizing the existence of an ancient Indigenous ancestor.…”

Foreword

“…It has become evident, however, that there is also a worrisome side to post-Indigeneity, whereby historically non-Indigenous people (e.g., insofar as a historical consciousness of being Indigenous is lacking) are also challenging modern conceptions of what it means to be Indigenous. Armed with the equivocality of DTC genetic ancestry testing and "Native American DNA," there are increasing numbers of purportedly non-Indigenous people in North America who are "popping up" as Indigenous in public and policy spheres for the first time as they reimagine Indigeneity in their own image (Gaudry and Leroux 2017;Sturm 2002).…”

“…Reduced to racial hybridity, Métisness (as opposed to the supposedly more "pure" First Nations) has become, it would seem, the go-to Indigenous identity in Canada for people who themselves have, at best, precarious and, at worst, no socio-material connection with Métis histories, politics, kinships, or territories (in a word, peoplehood). Gaudry and Leroux (2017) have termed the occurrence of spontaneous "pop-up" Métis identification as settler self-Indigenization. This phenomenon redefines Métis identity/difference by emphasizing the existence of an ancient Indigenous ancestor.…”

“…The 2016 census reported an astronomical 51 percent increase in the Métis population since 2006, with the biggest increase found in Quebec (149.2 percent) and Nova Scotia (124.3 percent) (Statistics Canada 2017; Leroux and Gaudry 2017). Gaudry and Leroux (2017) explain that the rise in white Franco Quebecois and Acadian Canadians self-identifying as Métis reflects a self-stylized "becoming Indigenous" through the "tactical use of long-ago racial mixing to reimagine a Métis identity" (116).…”