Métis people made up the majority of permanent inhabitants at Red River Settlement. It was ‘normal,’ therefore, for individuals to have familial antecedents that allowed them to self-identify in a variety of ways — well beyond the mere mixture of ‘European’ and ‘Indian.’ The terms people might use to describe themselves would vary depending on the language they were speaking at any given time as well as the context in which any self-description was taking place.
At Red River in 1869–1870, when speaking English, most Métis apparently preferred to use the terms Native and Native-born to self-identify. The term ‘Half-breed’ was used in English-language government documents in the nineteenth century. It was sometimes used by people of Red River Settlement amongst themselves, or in an ironic way with outsiders.[i]
When speaking French, the term used was Métis, which figured in French-language documents (although it was invested with negative connotations at times, it is now considered a name of honour).[ii] When writing French, the configuration Métis, with the appropriate accent was normal. Occasionally, when publishing French-language documents and newspaper articles at Red River, the accent might be missed — principally due to a shortage of the necessary type-blocks used in printing presses.[iii]
If speaking Michif, a Métis person might identify as Michif; while speaking in Bungee they might identify as Bungee.[iv] In North America there were hundreds of Aboriginal communities, each with its own approach to naming affiliation in accord with cultural custom, language, and dialect. To name only a few examples: In conversation, people of mixed Aboriginal and non-North American heritage who were highlighting that heritage, to differentiate themselves from relatives or group members who did not share the heritage (or to indicate differences from group outsiders), might refer also to themselves as:
- ᐊᐱᐦᑕᐃᐧᑯᓯᓴᐣ — also spelled Apihtohkosan/ Apihtawikosisan/ Âpihtawikosisân/ Abittawokosian/ Apeetogosan/ Apitow Coosan (Cousin/ Cousine), which term originally implied a ‘half relative’ in Cree (the common trade language in the West).[v]
- Aiabitawisid/ Aiabitawisidjig (plural), meaning “A half-breed man or woman.”[vi]
- Ootipayimisoo/ Otepaymsuak/ Otipimisiwak/ Otipemisiwak, meaning their own boss/ the people who own themselves/ Free people/ Gens de libre/ Hommes Libres.[vii]
- Akpayeća, meaning “to be lighter than its proper color, as a child that will yet darken … mulatto.”[viii]
- Wissakodewikwe, meaning “half-breed woman, (or half white and half Indian origin); half-burnt-wood-woman.”
- Wissakodewinini, meaning “Half-breed man, half whiteman and half Indian, (from a white father and an Indian mother, or vice versa); half-burnt-wood-man/ Woodsman/ Bois Brule.”[ix]