Thread by @Abitawiskwe

#Chicot are Métis from the area of Lanaudière in #Québec.
Why have we always identified as Métis?
Well, for one thing, that's the last name our ancestors were given when they were recorded by the Church:

#Chicot is an accepted term designating #Métis. It figures in Jean Teillet's "Métis Law in Canada" , Chapter One: Who are the Métis?
§ 1.3: Métis Identity

#Chicot is also a term of reference in accepting members of the #Métis Nation of Ontario, as indicated in Chapter 10 of their guide

Louis Riel's father and his aunt Sophie were also recorded in this parish at the #Chicot. The translated record indicates their father Jean-Baptiste as a "Voyageur, whose domicile is in this parish". The mother is Marguerite BOUCHER, a "French #Métis".

It was always known that #Métis, some recorded by the last name *Mitif* were present here at the #Chicot, as evidenced by this book published back in 1889 by Abbott S.A. Morneau. (My translation)

The sash, chosen symbol of #Métis, is recorded as part of #Lanaudière culture, art and traditions.

None of these empirical evidences cause prejudice to Red river Métis.
Only the Settler's government would gain by the the exclusion of Chicot.

I wrote this blog post last year about a few people from the #Chicot who made historically important advancement on behalf of #Métis:
qallunette.com/2016/07/20/not…

This 1709 map of the area downstream if the #Chicot indicates many of the names of Voyageurs, several already the product of mixed unions at the Sillery and Trois-Rivières missions. These men would later bring back First Nations wives to the community. Many others remained West.

Here are some of the names of the holders of river lots at the #Chicot whose descendants identify as #Métis and #FN both here and at Red river:
Pied or Piet (Pied means Foot, may be a reference to Blackfoot)
Beaugrand Champagne
Fafard Longval Delorme
Enau Canada
Petit Bruneau

Rainville Renville
Brisset(te) Courchesne Dupas
Henry
Belcourt
Dupuis
Durand
Lafontaine
Parisien
Boucher
Mandeville
Lafontaine Fontaine
Lavallée Vallée
Casabon
Peltier Pelletier
Vertefeuille

Neighboring communities of the #Chicot, were
Lecomte Lagimodière
Lizotte
Riel
Nault
Parenteau
Tourond
Plouf(fe) Villebrun
Gaboury
Sauteux Fauteux
Dubois
Bellehumeur

Ancestors were further made anonymous when they were recorded as *Squatters in the back country*... not surprising that this sub-district of the census return is missing...

They asked for the oral history of our community - we provided it
They asked for our kinship connections - we provided it
They asked for empirical evidences to back it all up and we provided that as well.

There are 1,900 Women, Children and Men who identify as Metis in my region, out of 313,000 people - on a territory that's 14,750 km2 large. That's one of us every 7km2. We couldn't even see each other if we were spread out in the area.

It's a little disheartening to see that no other Indigenous People (as a group or as Centers of Influence) have taken notice of the all the information being shared.

I am Chicot. And probably the last generation who will be allowed to identify as Métis.

We haven't learned.

@threadreaderapp please unroll.