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Welcome to Okanagan Metis Children and Family Services! |
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Written by Administrator
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May 11, 2007 at 12:00 AM |
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 Thank you for visiting our site. We hope you find the information you are seeking within these pages, however knowing that we may have missed a detail or two, please feel free to let us know.
The menu on the left will guide you to our programs, links of interest and contact information for our organization. Clicking the banner on the left will take you to the site displayed.
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Last Updated ( May 22, 2007 at 09:03 AM )
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Written by Administrator
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May 15, 2007 at 12:00 AM |
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We, the Métis, are a people of the lands which gave rise to our history, tradition and culture. We call these lands the Métis Homelands. These Homelands stretch from the lakes and rivers of Ontario, across the wide prairies, traversing the mountains into British Columbia and into the Northwest Territories. They include the hills and valleys of Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. These are our lands. They are Métis lands of our past, which nurture us today and which we value as the precious foundation of our future.
As Métis who live in the Homelands, we hold it to be a fundamental truth that we are one of the Aboriginal peoples of the Americas. As Métis people we joined together long ago to form a new nation , a distinct nation , which Louis Riel called the “Métis Nation”. The Métis Nation continues today to be the embodiment of our past, our present, and our hopes and aspirations for the future.
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Last Updated ( May 22, 2007 at 09:27 AM )
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Written by Administrator
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May 15, 2007 at 12:00 AM |
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The paternal ancestors of the Métis were the former employees of the Hudson’s Bay and Northwest Fur Companies, and their maternal ancestors were Indian women of various tribes.
The French word, “Métis” is derived from the Latin participle mixtus, which means “mixed”; in French “mele”; it expresses well the idea that is sought to be conveyed. However appropriate the corresponding English expression “Halfbreed” might have been for the first generation of the mixture of blood, now that European blood and Indian blood are mixed in every degree, it is no longer general enough.
The French word “Mét” expresses the idea of this mixture in the most satisfactory manner possible, and thus becomes a proper race name. Why should we care to what degree exactly of mixture we possess European blood and Indian blood?
If we feel ever so little gratitude and filial love toward one or the other, do they not constrain us to say: “We are Métis!” – Statement by Louis Riel
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Last Updated ( May 22, 2007 at 09:21 AM )
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