From borderlands to bordered lands: the plains metis and the 49th parallel, 1869-1885

Abstract

The following study is an attempt to comprehend the impact that the Canadian-United States border along the forty-ninth parallel had on the Plains Metis between 1869 and 1885, and how members of this community continued to manipulate the border to meet their own objectives. From the 1860s to 1880s, state definitions of Metis status, as well as government recognition and non-recognition of Metis identity, had a profound impact on the Plains Metis. Imposed state classifications and statuses limited the choices of many to enter treaty, be recognised as a citizen, or reside in a partiuclar country. The implementation of these status definitions began after 1875 when the enforcement of the international boundary began in earnest, and it was this endforcement that represented the beginnings of the colonisation of the Plains Metis.