Mati Are

The Metis have been for a long time. That is, they have long been a people. They have developed a new culture from very different cultures. They continue to develop their culture.
They have been at least since the 1600s. They may have spoken mostly a combination of Cree and Ojibwa and French then. Please help me through my ignorance with what you have heard. 
In those days they began to learn of Catholicism and to teach the French their way of doing business. I believe they are a beautiful blend of European and Native cultures. They may have begun that beautiful blending before the arrival of the Spanish in the new world. There are hints of a very old Hibernian speech in their language.


As an aside, I suspect that Irish may have arrived in the New World World as much as a hundred years before Norse. Say that the Norse arrived about 900 AD that then suggests that some blending was being done about 800 AD.


Anyway, I'm pretty sure that the blending I speak of well after the 'birth' of Christianity. Nearly all Matis speaking person has been touched by Catholicism. Mati were well recognized, acknowledged, and commented on by English speakers in the 1800s.


I imagine that if many Mati had a DNA check a strong touch of French, Cree, Ojibwa, and Saulteaux would be found, but also a bit of Irish, Inuit, Scot, Algonquin, and others.


Today, in the US and Canada, there are many hundreds o thousands of mixed blood people, but only about 300,000 who form a well identified Meti culture.


What kind of people are they? Got me.
I can say that they have been travelers. I seems incorrect to call them a stay-at-home people.
They have been voyageurs. They know British Columbia and have traveled to California in caravan. They know the Hudson Bay and the Great Lakes. They have used the Mississippi as their road; the Missouri and Ohio Rivers too. They probably invented the canoe as we know it.
They have traveled this land and its waters, including the sea.
They watch many of the same TV programs that you do.


They know the Chippewa and empathise with the Cherokee.


Some say that their language is built largely of Ojibwa and French, but it contains much more, including a touch of Gaelic.


I think that you can find great stories relate to this very American people. However, if you are a person who wants the facts, It might me good to start with Louis Riel and work your way back. Once you are sure of your admiration for these people go back to Louis Riel and explore and discover your way to today.


Please help me to overcome my ignorance of these things. Tell me where I have been true and where I have been mistaken. I have tried to write honestly.