The Metis build up a sense of pride and proclaimed themselves as a separate native community of Canada. The giving away of the lands to the European settlers by the colonizing companies led to the downfall of the Metis. They waged a war at Red River where they were defeated and thus they were pushed down to the lower level of the social structure and were subjected to racial discrimination. In 1982 the Canadian Constitution recognized them as a separate group of aborigines and granted them access to the aboriginal rights.