The Métis are recognized as one of the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada. To celebrate his heritage and honour his forefathers, my husband registered and sent for his Metis status card.
His 7x great grandfather was Jacques Nolin who came to Canada from France sometime before 1666 and settled at Ile d'Orleans. His 4x great grandfather was Jean Baptiste Nolin, well known and respected fur trader from Sault Ste Marie to Red River and Pembina. Jean Baptiste married Angelique Couvret, the Métis daughter of another fur trader, Victor Couvret and his wife Charlotte, a Saulteaux member of the Ojibwe Nation.
My husband's father was also proud of his Métis heritage. Not all his family feels this way, still feeling the old stigma of being labeled a Métis or half-breed. Some of them even changed their name from Nolin to Nolan, hoping they were from the Irish Nolan's.
"Denying who you are does not change anything," my husband says, "I am proud to stand with ALL my forefathers!"
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