Metis: People between Two Worlds

Jenifer Lepiano was a writer and drama teacher in Toronto.

“We are born individualists,” declared Jim Brady, a Metis leader during the Depression. The characterization speaks both to the special hardships and the special richness of Metis life. Metis: People between Two Worlds begins with the earliest years of Metis history up to 1885. The four remaining chapters chart the century that has followed Riel’s death and defeat: the development and consequences of the scrip program, the war years, the Lagasse report of the late ‘50s, and the recent negotiations for political settlement and special Metis status protected by the Charter of Rights. It is an excellent summary, beautifully presented. Not surprisingly, given that Julia Harrison is Curator of Ethnology at Alberta’s Glenbow Museum and presently responsible for a touring show called Metis, the book bears some resemblance to an extended exhibition catalogue. There are illuminating photographs, often more than one to a page, of both people and objects, clear maps, an extensive bibliography, and an index. The whole provides a sympathetic and broadbased introduction to the special heritage of this people who, in the words of Native Council spokesman Jim Sinclair, “have a significant piece of unfinished business that strikes at the foundation of Canadian society.”