I've said it before, as have other Métis before me, but Métis are a result of Indigenous people "mixing" with other Indigenous people, not Natives & Europeans mixing. Having parents of two different ancestries doesn't produce an entirely new people on its own. Multi-generations!

You also need a particular (anti)political landscape where a new people can not just be born but grow up and thrive, otherwise "mixed" people will eventually assimilate one way or another, either to another previously existing Indigenous people or to the settler population.

What happened at Red River was unique cuz we became the majority of the population and fought and won against a weak colonial power, the Hudson's Bay Company, several times between 1816-1869. We had space to grow and thrive. Until Canada sent soldiers to steal it from us.

Before Canada invaded Red River in 1870, and then the Northwest (Saskatchewan) in 1885, we also had strong kinship & (anti)political relations with other Indigenous nations (Cree, Anishinaabe, etc.) in our homeland. We weren't only seeking validation from colonizers.