From the Canadian Encyclopedia:

"Métis are people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry, and one of the three recognized Aboriginal peoples in Canada. The use of the term Métis is complex and contentious, and has different historical and contemporary meanings. The term is used to describe communities of mixed European and Indigenous descent across Canada, and a specific community of people — defined as the Métis Nation — which originated largely in Western Canada and emerged as a political force in the 19th century, radiating outwards from the Red River Settlement. While the Canadian government politically marginalized the Métis after 1885, they have since been recognized as an Aboriginal people with rights enshrined in the Constitution of Canada and more clearly defined in a series of Supreme Court of Canada decisions."

How do the Métis  define themselves?

Below are various definitions and commentary from each of the major Métis groups in Canada. Each have slightly different approaches.  All are here so as to provide a balanced and full story of who the Métis are.

Métis Nation of Alberta:

“Métis” means a person who self-identifies as Métis, is distinct from other Indigenous peoples, is of historic Métis Nation ancestry, and who is accepted by the Métis Nation.

Métis people are a post-contact Indigenous nation, born from the unions of European fur traders and First Nations women in the 18th century. The descendants of these marriages, the Métis, would form a distinct culture, collective consciousness, and strong Nationhood in the Northwest.

Distinct Métis communities developed along fur trade routes that made the Métis Nation Homeland. Today, the Homeland includes Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, parts of British Columbia and Ontario, the Northwest Territories, and the northern United States.

We were here before Canada existed.

The Métis are a robust, thriving community and one of three legally, politically, and culturally distinct Indigenous peoples of Canada, recognized by s. 35 (2) of the Constitution Act, 1982. Métis people have a unique identity, culture, language, way of life, and historic self-government."

Métis Nation Saskatchewan:

The definition of Métis as adopted by Métis Nation–Saskatchewan is: “a person who self identifies as Métis, is of historic Métis Nation ancestry, is distinct from other Aboriginal peoples, and is accepted by the Métis Nation.”

The Métis Nation grounds its assertion of Aboriginal nationhood on well-recognized international principles, including a shared history, common culture (song, dance, dress, national symbols, etc.), unique language (Michif, with various regional dialects), extensive kinship connections from Ontario westward, a distinct way of life, traditional territory, and a collective consciousness. The area known as the “historic Métis Nation Homeland” includes the three prairie provinces and extends into Ontario, British Columbia, Northwest Territories and the northern United States.

The Métis are recognized in the 1982 Canadian Constitution “Section 35 (1) the existing Treaty and aboriginal rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed;” (2) In this Act, “aboriginal peoples of Canada” includes Indian, Inuit and Métis peoples.

Métis Nation British Columbia:

"In 2002, representatives of the Nation formalized the “National Definition” of Métis, which was used by the Supreme Court of Canada in the 2003 Powley decision. In 2003, the Government of Canada and the Government of British Columbia entered into a major tripartite agreement with the Métis in BC. MNBC is the first Métis government in the history of BC to demonstrate the will, determination and consistency required to enter such a monumentally important understanding. Further negotiations between the Provincial Government and MNBC resulted in the 2006 Métis Nation Relationship Accord. Métis Nation British Columbia continues to push for respectful recognition and reconciliation of our inherent Aboriginal rights, and our existence within the Canadian federation."

Their website also says the following:

"Métis have been documented in BC as early as 1793, when Sir Alexander Mackenzie’s Expedition traversed the Rockies and established a signpost marking at North Bentinck Arm [near Bella Coola, BC] on July 22 nd , 1793. The Western Mackenzie Valley Drainage Basin, which now falls within the boundaries of southern Yukon and northern British Columbia, encompasses a vast area drained by the Mackenzie, Laird, Finlay, Stikine, Peace, Parsnip, and Halfway Rivers. The area includes the modern settlements of Frances Lake and Fort Grahame in the west, to Hudson’s Hope and Fort St. John’s in the south and to the British Columbia-Alberta border in the east.

David Thompson’s Expedition into BC occurred around 1800. Thompson documented the presence of 20 Métis families in the Flathead Valley, Kootenays. Ethnologist James Teit noted a band of Iroquois who settled at Tete Jaune Cache in 1816. According to Teit, they spoke Cree and French and were noted for having traded flower beadwork leggings with the Shuswap. They were known by the Shuswap (and documented by Teit) as “Le Mechif.” Other notable Métis expeditions into BC are as follows: Simon Fraser (1805), Sinclair Expedition (1841, 1854.)"

Manitoba Métis Federation:

"Despite our many names such as Bois Brûlés; flower beadwork people; Otipemisiwak; Louis Riel's people, and, as we call ourselves in our own language - Michif - from the beginning we have always been the Red River Métis. The Red River Métis is the origin, root, and core of the Métis Nation. The Red River Métis is the Métis Nation.

Our People have a strong distinct identity and share a common history in the great western plains centered in the Red River Valley that is entirely our own. Our Homeland is West Central North America which is the historic North-West and part of Rupert's Land brought into Confederation under the leadership of Louis Riel and others.

Red River Settlement - now Winnipeg - is the birthplace of the Métis Nation and the heart of the Métis Nation Homeland. The Red River Métis is Canada's Negotiating Partner in Confederation and the Founder of Manitoba.

Throughout our Homeland, the Red River Métis is made up of Métis Citizens and settlements, also known as local communities and traditional territories, and is defined by a common ancestry, identity, culture, social and kinship relationships and, among other things our history. The history of the Métis Nation is the history of the Red River Métis.

No one else can lay claim to our culture. Its genesis and evolution is here, at the Red River. Any attempts to claim our culture by those who are not us is indeed cultural misappropriation and identity theft: We are the people who created distinctive Métis fiddle music and dance that includes the Red River Jig; and the artistry of our flower beadwork - a beadwork so unique, beautiful, and prolific that we were called the "flower beadwork people."

We also have our ancestral language called Michif, spoken only in our western prairie homes. It is not only the name of our language but also the name of our People. We are also the People of the Red River Cart - today a strong symbol of travel and trade.

For nearly 200 years we fought the legal, political and military struggles in the courts, in the houses of government, and on the fields of battle. We will stand ready to defend the Métis Nation, born in the Red River and extending throughout our Homeland."

Métis Nation of Ontario:

"In 1993, the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) was established through the will of Métis people and Métis communities coming together throughout Ontario to create a Métis-specific governance structure. Prior to 1993, Métis had been involved in pan-Aboriginal lobby groups and organizations. The MNO was not created to represent all individuals and communities that claim to be Métis, but those individuals and communities that are a part of the Métis Nation.

At its original meetings, Métis representatives from communities throughout the province set out the foundational vision for the MNO. This vision is encapsulated in the MNO Statement of Prime Purpose.

The statement is a seminal document for the MNO and it sets out why the MNO was formed, who MNO represents, and what the MNO wants to achieve. The statement has been central to the MNO’s success for almost three decades.

The statement also affirms that the MNO was created to represent Métis people and communities in Ontario that are a part of the Métis Nation. Specifically, the document states:

'We, the Métis are a people of the lands which gave rise to our history and tradition and culture. We call these lands the Métis Homelands. The Homelands stretch from the lakes and rivers of Ontario; cross the wide prairies; traverse the mountains into British Columbia and into the far reaches of the Northwest Territories. They include the hills and valleys of the north-central American States. These are our lands. They are Métis lands. They are the lands of our past which nurture us today and which we value as the precious foundation of our future.'"

Métis Nation Québec:

"Person whose descendants are from the province of Québec and can prove a direct link with a person of a First Nation."

North Slave Métis Alliance:

"The first people of European descent in the Great Slave Lake region appear to have been French-Canadian or possibly French-mixed-ancestry people who into the area in with the advent of established fur trade posts in the latter half of the 18th century. The Métis population emerged as a cohort of youth by the turn of the 19th century. This cohort began to appear in the historical documentation as young adults by 1820. They were noticeable in the operations of the fur trade in the area, especially operating with the North West Company. These “North West Company halfbreeds” were quite apparent as a group to outside observers. Newcomers in the male population, mostly of solely European descent but occasionally of mixed ancestry, continued to arrive over the course of the nineteenth century. Marriage and baptism records show that these newcomers were integrated into older Métis families, and their Métis children born in the region in turn married into Métis families old and new.

Throughout the 19th century, European and Métis marriage to Aboriginal women continued to occur, but was not as common as marriage within the Métis population. Census records from the late nineteenth century show that the Great Slave Lake Métis population was overwhelmingly locally-born, with few Métis people born outside the region. Some of these people were identified by observers as “Indians” or Europeans, but the use of the term “Métis” or “halfbreed” to distinguish mixed-ancestry individuals or populations persisted throughout the 19th and early 20th century. The nature of the Great Slave Lake area, with its emphasis on subsistence wildlife harvesting and the fur trade, discouraged the accumulation of large numbers of people in settlements.

Groups of Métis people were evident by the end of the 19th century, particularly at Fort Resolution and Smith’s Landing (Fitzgerald), but even these communities were often depleted of population by seasonal harvesting cycles. There is some limited documentary evidence of Métis people moving and hunting together, either in extended family groups such as the Mandevilles or the Beaulieus, or in combined groups such as the “Cayenne” that came to hunt with François Beaulieu II and the second Franklin expedition, and the “Indian Half breed” that accompanied Beaulieu’s group part way to Fort Franklin. The historical evidence tends to emphasize mixed-ancestry people hunting with “Indian” groups, probably at least in part because that was what they were expected to do if they were employed by fur traders."

What do others say?

We cam accross a story on CBC News,  written by Rhiannon Johnson on April 28, 2019.  This provides at least one synopsis.  There are certainly others out there.  

"In French, the word métis is an adjective referring to someone of mixed ancestry. Since the 18th century, the word has been used to describe individuals with mixed Indigenous and European ancestry.

But it's generally recognized that being Métis is more than having mixed Indigenous and European heritage. Métis have a distinct collective identity, customs and way of life, unique from Indigenous or European roots.

The 1996 Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples stated "Many Canadians have mixed Aboriginal/non-Aboriginal ancestry, but that does not make them Métis or even Aboriginal. Some of them identify themselves as First Nations persons or Inuit, some as Métis and some as non-Aboriginal. What distinguishes Métis people from everyone else is that they associate themselves with a culture that is distinctly Métis."

The Métis Nation are descendants of fur traders who settled in present-day Manitoba. There's a shared culture, traditions and language among those who trace their family roots back to the Red River colony.

There are others outside of the Métis Nation who do not have connections to the Red River colony who also identify as Métis, particularly in Quebec and the Maritimes. The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples referred to them as "the other Métis" and said they constituted "a minority within a minority within a minority.""

How many Métis are there?

"In the 2016 Census, 587,545 people identified as Métis across Canada. That number represents a 51.2 per cent growth since 2006. Over the same period, the First Nations population grew by 39.3 per cent and Inuit by 29.1 per cent." (Rhiannon Johnson - CBC News, April 28, 2019 - Source - Statistics Canada)

What are Métis rights?

"Section 35 of the 1982 Constitution Act guaranteed Indigenous rights but they were not defined.

In October 1993, Steve and Roddy Powley killed a moose north of Sault Ste. Marie and were charged with unlawfully hunting a moose without a licence contrary to Ontario's Game and Fish Act. They argued that as Métis they had rights under s.35 to hunt for food.

R. v. Powley went to the Supreme Court of Canada and in the court's September 2003 decision, the Powleys were acquitted and the "Powley Test" was established for determining the rights to which Métis are entitled." (Rhiannon Johnson - CBC News, April 28, 2019)

The Powley Test

"The test considers 10 criteria, encompassing self-identification, ancestral connection and community acceptance, to determine whether someone is entitled to exercise Métis rights. The test was modeled after the Van der Peet Test which determines how First Nations claims to rights are defined.

The 10 criteria are:

• Characterization of the right. 
• Identification of the historic rights-bearing community.
• Identification of the contemporary rights-bearing community.
• Verification of the claimant's membership in the relevant contemporary community. (One must self-identify as Métis, have an ancestral connection to a historic Métis community and be accepted by the modern Métis community.)
• Identification of the relevant time frame. (To determine whether something was integral to the Métis community, the practice must have fallen post-contact but before European laws and customs ruled the land.)
• Determination of whether the practice is integral to the claimant's distinctive culture. 
• Establishment of continuity between the historic practice and the contemporary right asserted. 
• Determination of whether or not the right was extinguished. 
• If there is a right, determination of whether there is an infringement. 
• Determination of whether the infringement is justified."

The Daniels decision

"In 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Daniels v. Canada (Indian Affairs and Northern Development) that Métis and non-status Indians are considered Indians under s. 91(24) of the 1982 Constitution. 

The decision established that the federal government must accept responsibility for negotiating programs and services for Métis communities." (Rhiannon Johnson - CBC News, April 28, 2019)

Metis Governments

Métis Nation British Columbia

Métis Nation of Alberta

Métis Nation of Saskatchewan 

Métis Manitoba Métis Federation

Métis Nation of Ontario

Métis Nation Québec 

North Slave Métis Alliance

Métis National Counsel 

Congress of Aboriginal Peoples