Society for Cultural Anthropology

Oral Presentation Session

The Negation of Acadian-Métis in the Arts: Maxim Cormier’s Fight for Recognition.

Presenter(s)

• JL

  Jo-Anne Lawless

Maxim Cormier, a Nova Scotia musician who identifies as being Acadian Métis was stripped by the East Coast Music Association’s nomination for an Indigenous artist award. Fuelled by Twitter outrage, the decision nonetheless highlights the denial of the Acadian Métis as being truly Métis and thus Indigenous. This case will be examined Cormier is a descendant of one of the premiere families of Nova Scotia’s Acadian Métis community, the Muis line. This case will be examined to present a concise history of the Acadian Métis and as a testament to the continued existence of Métis consciousness in the Maritimes. Rather than seeing the Cormier case as a case of fraudulent ancestry and identity claims, but rather one of community continuity and a shared identity forged by a common history.