During this discussion in 1875, Liberal David Laird acknowledged "there are so many shades of half-breeds that it was difficult to say who were and who were not entitled to a portion of this land". Government officials admitted back then, even in Manitoba and in the Red River, that Métis were diverse and fluid and not homogenous. These "half-breed" communities varied significantly, including across the Pacific Northwest.

Later in 1899 Treaty 8 negotiator David Laird offered scrip to extinguish the title of Métis self-determined communities in British Columbia. Métis kinship networks were disrupted, and this led to dispossession of Métis peoples from their land, resources and culture.

123 years later the Federal Liberal government plays "recognition politics" and arbitrarily determines who represents Métis, who can be Métis and receive services, as a form of subjugation, discrimination and dispossession.