Investing in a Distinctions‐Based Approach: A Paradigmatic Shift for Métis Policy?

Abstract Is Canada's federal policy paradigm related to Indigenous peoples shifting towards a distinctions‐based approach? This article considers the ways in which the idea of a distinctions‐based approach has taken hold in the political, policy, and institutional frameworks that govern the policy relationship between Canada and one of the three groups of constitutionally recognized Indigenous people: the Métis. By tracing the prevalence of this idea in federal policy discourse and assessing its manifestation in budget investments and policy developments, we show the promise of this paradigmatic shift for the Métis and consider some of its limitations in capturing the diversity of Indigenous lived realities. We ultimately conclude that these limitations coupled with the failure to embed the distinctions‐based approach in federal legislative and institutional structures and the enduring features of Canada's settler‐colonial system casts doubts on the promise of this new policy paradigm.