Michif loss and resistance in four Metis communities: Kahkiyaaw mashchineenaan, “All of us are disappearing as in a plague”

Thirty-three years ago Crawford (1985) described Michif use in four Metis communities in Canada and the USA, and singled out Michif as a stable language, common to several communities in the North American prairies. This paper focuses on four Metis communities as of 2017, and describes pattern of Michif loss and strategies of resistances within those. First, I describe the different varieties of Michif and locate some communities within central Canada and the USA where Michif is still spoken. Then, I focus of the communities of the Turtle Mountain Reservation (USA), Boggy Creek and San Clara (northern Manitoba), Muskowekwan First Nation (Saskatchewan) and Brandon (southern Manitoba).