Canada's aboriginal groups are the continental First Nations, the Métis and the Northern Inuit.
The Métis People are descendants of the Scottish fur traders and French Québecois traders
who came to the prairies and married First Nations wives. The mix of these cultures
created a unique weaving style that combined Scottish and French Celtic tartans with
First Nations motives and colours, in this case an arrowhead design that the Métis people
took on as their cultural tartan. Mark MiLan is a Métis artist living and working in Vancouver,
creating traditional arrowhead designs by hand on a 70 inch loom. From this he can cut along
the red stripes to make articles of various sizes up to and including 70" shawls.

These designs are well known in Manitoba where I grew up
and are worn with pride at first Nations celebrations by the
Métis participants. More information is at:
http://www.milanart.ca/index.html
and items can be ordered at:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/canadianmetis

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