Bead by Bead

What does the phrase Métis peoples mean in constitutional terms? As lawyers and scholars debate the nature and scope of Métis identity and constitutional rights, understanding Métis experience of colonization is fundamental to achieving reconciliation.

In Bead by Bead, contributors address the historical denial of Métis concerns and claims with respect to land, resources, and governance. Tackling such themes as the invisibility of Métis women in court decisions, identity politics, and racist legal principles, they uncover the troubling issues that plague Métis aspirations for a just future.

This nuanced analysis of the parameters that current Indigenous legal doctrines place around Métis rights discourse moves beyond a one-size-fits-all approach. By revealing the complexity and diversity of Métis identities and lived reality, it opens new pathways to respectful, inclusive Métis-Canadian constitutional relationships.

Yvonne Boyer is a Michif with her Métis ancestral roots in the Red River. She was the associate director of the Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics, part-time professor of law at the University of Ottawa, and is the author of Moving Aboriginal Health Forward: Discarding Canada’s Legal Barriers. She was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 2018. Larry Chartrand is a citizen of the Métis Nation (Michif), professor emeritus in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa, and a former director of the Indigenous Law Centre at the University of Saskatchewan. He was the principal investigator for a SSHRC research project on Métis treaties that led to Métis Treaties in Canada: Past Realities and Present Promise.

Contributors: Brodie Douglas, Karen Drake, Christopher Gall, Adam Gaudry, Sébastien Grammond, Brenda L. Gunn, Thomas Isaac, Wanda McCaslin , Darren O’Toole, Jeremy Patzer, Signa A. Daum Shanks, D’Arcy Vermette

Finally, we have a source that in a single place provides material and commentary that will support informed debate and help to come to grips with the questions of Métis identity, community, and constitutional rights ... This book accurately addresses who we are: a people with common values, traditions, culture, way of life, family ties, history, communities, and shared territory ... There is no question of its value, the knowledge we gain from it, and how it will augment everyone’s perspective of the issues of the Métis.