2016 Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize winner Michel Hogue will speak on his winning book “The Metis and the Medicine Line: Creating a Border and Dividing a People.”

The book tells the story of the Métis, descendants of the French-Canadian fur traders and northern indigenous tribes in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. They were important economic and political intermediaries between white and native peoples on both sides of a poorly defined U.S.-Canada border. The “Medicine Line” is what some Indians called the U.S.-Canadian border, because it seemed to magically stop American soldiers from pursuing them further. Hogue’s meticulous research reveals this unappreciated and critical component of northern Great Plains history.

And it’s a history that is still evolving. In April 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Metis and other non-status Indians are considered “Indians” in the eyes of the federal government. The ruling means this group can pursue benefits from Canada’s Indian Act including land claims, the right to discuss policy on a federal level, and public services such as health care and education.

Hogue is an Assistant Professor in History at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario.