Halfbreed is an autobiographical tale of a mixed indigenous woman, by the name of Maria Campbell. Maria’s story is unique due to the hardships she endured growing up of Metis descent (which is classified as a mix indigenous Indian and various white origins) in a Canadian society. Her multiheritage is comprised of Indian, Cree, English, Irish, French, and Scottish. The adversities of half breeds began early on, when they migrated from Ontario and Manitoba to elude the prejudice and abhorrence they received from new settlers, government officials, and full blood whites. They were viewed as subordinate beings, and treated as such. For example, Campbell professed: “…we never fitted in. We were always the poor relatives, the awp-pee-tow-koosons.* They laughed and scorned us” (29). This was also exemplified…show more content… The sociological concepts portrayed in her story included poverty, discrimination and inequity. She communicates how she was engulfed in her community’s insufficiency and racism growing up in a Métis community of Saskatchewan, which was a result of institutional violence, displacement and destruction of families via governmental involvement and rejection. Ironically, Campbell’s life as a child was a fairly happy one; that was until the death of her mother shattered her future. At such a young age, she was forced to take on a maternal role, caring for her siblings. In an attempt to escape the harsh realities of her life, she married a white man and moved to Vancouver, but her efforts to escape her circumstances were met by unprecedented despair. Unsuccessful in her efforts to create a better life for both herself and her siblings, they were taken away from and placed under the guardianship of social services and eventually separated. The abandonment of her abusive, alcoholic husband led to her downward spiral; lonely and desperate she became a drug addicted
