4. Métis Education

Métis children born during the fur trade period were educated in one of two ways:

• those who lived within the Indian community were raised and educated in the traditional Indian manner; and
• those who lived within the fur trade community were raised and educated in a Christian and European manner. Schooling was provided in mission schools which were established near trading posts.

The quality of education for Métis and non-status Indian children deteriorated after the signing of the Numbered Treaties and the Resistance of 1885.

Neither the federal or provincial governments would assume responsibility for the education of these children. Some were allowed to attend day or mission schools if there was space. Education in southern Saskatchewan was haphazard, and was virtually non-existent in northern Saskatchewan.

Gradually, the province began to pay attention. The Saskatchewan government assumed responsibility for the education of all Métis and non-status Indian children in 1944 following the release of the Piercy Report, which documented the grave educational conditions of the Métis people.