Commentary
Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 recognized “the Aboriginal and treaty rights of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada,” explicitly including “Métis peoples.” At the time, however, the Constitution’s framers offered no clear idea of what they meant by “Métis.
The word “Métis” refers to the descendants of a union between an aboriginal and a non-aboriginal person in the context of Canada.  The most familiar example of this process of racial mixing are the Métis of Rupert’s Land—the vast Hudson’s Bay Company concession that later became much of Western and Northern Canada.
The Constitution, however, refers to “the Indian, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada,” seemingly in the plural. It certainly raises the possibility that Métis may exist elsewhere in Canada and trace their origin to other historical eras and geographic areas….