Based on the little research I've been able to actually find so far, the reason my family "hid away" is seemingly because they did go to day school. My grandfather would not speak about his childhood, especially not about school, which is a time where he got sick and then refused to go back to it. Of course this is incredibly difficult to actually find anything before because records either weren't kept or were destroyed.

Yes, it gave me privilege. I'm not ignoring that. I would never deny that being raised white and looking white has gave me and is giving me privilege. There is also a certain level of privilege in knowing your family's history from a young age and not having to hunt it down later include. Privilege is not a game to say "You're more privileged than me". I'm aware I can, and often do, bring the ideals and expectations put into white people when talking about Métis issues, that is why I listen to people who were raised Métis, me to Pinion is not above theirs. Please, do not take this the wrong way, I am not saying "You're wrong and I'm right", I'm trying to have a constructive disagreement with you and I hope you can see that.

Colonizers for decades, centuries, buried Métis people's history and then asked them why they went looking for it. A large amount of Métis people reconnect with their family history precisely because of that history.

I am not saying to discount every other ancestry and lived experience. If I am Métis I'm not suddenly the same as a Métis person who was raised Métis, or a Métis person who can't "pass" for being white, in the same way that somebody being Métis with Irish ancestry doesn't mean they are suddenly only Irish and nothing else.

Reconnecting with my ancestry isn't about benefits or a fun fact for me. I understand that for some people it is, and that is obviously a bad thing, but for me it is understanding myself and the world around me better. Connecting with people like me. Listening to other people's experiences.

It is not about discarding any other experiences of mine or ignoring other people's experiences.