Anglo-Métis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anglo-Métis
Total population
Regions with significant populations
Flag of Canada Canada
Languages
English, Gaelic, Cree, Saulteaux, Assiniboine, Bungee (extinct)
Religions
Predominantly Anglican, Presbyterian
Related ethnic groups
Cree, Ojibwa, Orcadians, Scots, English Canadians, Francophone and Roman Catholic Métis people

A 19th Century community of the Métis people of Canada, the Anglo-Métis, more commonly known as Countryborn, were children of the fur trade; typically of Orkney, Scottish, or English paternal descent and Aboriginal maternal descent. Their first languages would have been aboriginal (Cree, Saulteaux, Assiniboine, etc.) and English. It seems likely that some of their fathers spoke Gaelic, thus leading to the development of the now extinct Métis "contact language" referred to as "Bungee".

[edit] History

Forming communities in Red River and the Saskatchewan Valley, they initially had fewer problems with the expansion of the Canadian state westward during the 19th Century than their francophone brethren. This was due to their tendency and ability to identify more with the politically and economically dominant British culture of Canada at this time. Additionally, the Anglo-Métis / Countryborn are held to have led a somewhat more sedentary lifestyle of farming than the francophone Métis community. Historical research indicates that the French speaking Métis were somewhat more nomadic due to their strong reliance upon the bison as a trade and food resource. Regardless of cultural and linguistic ties to Anglo Canada the Countryborn played a role in both the Red River Rebellion (or "Red River Uprising") of 1869 and the Northwest Rebellion (or "Northwest Uprising") of 1885, suffering from the same racism and land problems as their francophone brethren.

Through "ethnogenesis" by the 19th century the Métis, both Anglophone and French were culturally quite similar. Their musical traditions, especially in the case of fiddle music, hail from both British Isles and French origins, as does Métis traditional dance referred to as "jigging", or the "Red River Jig". In complexion they ranged from fair skinned, blonde and blue eyed through 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 amongst them. The two communities' primary differences lay in their language, and Christian religious affliation being either Protestant, or Roman Catholic . Most Countryborn were Anglican or Presbyterian. They were involved in a mixed economy of subsistence farming and bison hunting throughout most of the 19th century; they also found employment with the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company.

The Countryborn were often known in the 19th century as "Mixed-Bloods", "Black Scots", "Native English", or "Halfbreeds" (a term now considered pejorative). The French Metis referred to them simply as "les métis anglais" or "les autres métis." Thus, they gradually came to see themselves as little different from their French Métis brethren.


Today, the two groups are no longer politically distinct, and are commonly known on the Canadian Prairies simply as Métis.

Prominent Anglo-Métis / Countryborn include James Isbister, and John Norquay, the Premier of Manitoba from 1878 to 1887.

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[edit] References