We know who we are five generations of Metis resilience
tonsi
good morning my name is emerald unruh
i’m a student at simon fraser university
i study indigenous studies in political
science
i’m metis my family names are belumere
fleury and desjarlais
we come from communities in the red
river settlement fort ellis
saint madeleine lapa st lazar
and rokenville we are guests on the
shared unseated
traditional territories of the kakit
kukulem
kwantlan and kt first nations we’ve been
guests on this
shared unseated territory for three
generations now
i’m excited to be here today to share my
family’s story of resilience
my experience and hopefully increase
understanding of who we are as metis
people
as indigenous people we all wrestle with
big questions and big ideas surrounding
indigeneity
for metis people this can often be more
difficult
it’s often difficult for me t to tackle
the big questions
like who are we where do we come from
how did we get here what does being made
mean to me
that task is made even harder when our
history is made so invisible
we’re not taught very well about who the
metis are in school
the stories that they tell us about who
our people are are different
they don’t match the ones that have been
told in my home
when i visit a museum and i’m excited to
see the indigenous
exhibits i never see things that look
like my great uncle’s beaded jacket or
my grandma’s pipe
my identity is often up for debate
complete strangers
will question me point blank why am i
metis
what does that mean what percentage am i
what’s my blood quantum
as if this is a really good indicator
for them of how authentic i am
our history is complicated and hard to
understand
it’s been a 400 year long struggle of
not belonging in either world
of trying to walk in two worlds at once
and these misunderstandings have dire
consequences when people don’t
understand who we are
the well-being of my people is always in
jeopardy it’s always a debate
which of course raises the question who
are we
who do we think we are when people ask
us they’re often confused
and my first question is where are they
getting their information about us
the supreme court of canada defines
metis people as someone is having a
historic connection to the red river
settlement
as someone who self-identifies as metis
and as someone who’s accepted by a
modern metis community
but for me my identity is very personal
it comes down to the stories that i’ve
been told growing up
the people that i’m connected to the
places that i come from
and how i honor these connections in my
day-to-day life
and i’m very very lucky i’m one of the
fortunate ones
i have a beautiful family history and i
know what it is
these stories have been passed down by
the matriarchs the strong women
in my family around my mom’s kitchen
table
and even though these stories are so
incredible they’re not uncommon stories
you talk to any metis person and the
stories that i’m about to share with you
today will line up almost perfectly with
the ones that they have in their
families
when you follow the arc of these stories
it shows a distinctly metis experience
that my family has been present at and
impacted by almost all of the major
events that have happened to my people
over the last 400 years
and these same problems these same
values these same
solutions that have been in existence
for 400 years
are still very real today they may look
or sound a little different
but at the root of the matter they are
the same and they tell us who we are
where we’ve been where we’re going these
stories are really the backbone of our
community
i’d like to start off by talking about
my great great grandma marguerite
marguerite balumera was the
sister-in-law of louis rielle she was
married to patrice belle merritt louie’s
right-hand man
now lurie uncle louie he’s a he’s a
topic for a whole other ted talk
um that’s a very long and proud history
and i’m very very lucky to be so closely
connected to it
we grew up hearing these stories about
him all the time sitting around my
grandma’s kitchen table and she was so
so proud to share them
one of my favorites was how when he tore
his moccasins
my great-grandma made him a new pair a
beautiful beaded pair
other times we’d pull the bright red
biography book off of the bookshelf
and we’d it would just fall open to the
dog-eared pages where the names were
highlighted and circled a million times
over
and tell the same stories i feel so so
lucky to have that connection and to
have been told those stories
it was really surprising when i was in
my 10th grade social studies class
and my uncle louie was called a traitor
a heretic
a murderer no one no one said anything
different about him in that class
no one questioned this description of
him
it was just kind of accepted as fact and
people just moved on
next we have my great grandma cecile
she’s another really strong woman
whose stories we heard often growing up
she lost her husband to tb
and when that happened she walked across
the entire province of manitoba with
young children and a cow to connect with
family
where she knew that she could rely on
community kinship
family to stay alive to stay safe to
survive the hardships
we’re still working hard to understand
her connection to the saint madeleine
settlement near fort ellis
the saint madeleine settlement was a
metis settlement near fort ellis
and during the 1930s and 40s the
government started a new program to
clear land for settlers
my relations were away harvesting seneca
route and the houses were burned to the
ground
the dogs were shot and the local church
was turned into a piggery
when they returned they had nowhere to
go
this is part of the reason the road
allowance people came into existence
they were a group of metis people who
had nowhere to live whose land was taken
away
and in order to survive they lived or
squatted
on tops of crowned land the road
allowance people were in existence until
as late as 2002
the same year my little brother was born
that brings me to my grandma who we
called mums
she was a strong woman as well and i’m
very lucky to have had a really close
relationship with her growing up
um after my great-grandma cecile
remarried they settled in a farm in
rokenville where my mums grew up
she was the only member of her family to
complete high school and she even went
on to become a psych nurse
but the stories my mom and my auntie
martin shared about my mums
were stories that she never told us
herself she was kicked off buses for
being a
she was excommunicated from the church
for marrying a protestant
and she faced racism that was so
incredible that she moved
all the way to bc hoping for better for
her daughters
what i find most amazing about my mums
was even though it was so hard being
metis she taught me to be proud of who i
am
of the stories that she passed down of
the knowledge she shared with me
of all the different things she taught
me how to do like jig make bannock
make preserves but the most important
lesson she taught me was how to be
kind and respectful to all of our
relations that we need to take care of
each other
that we need to do everything with love
when i think about what it means to be
metis
all i have to do is think about my mums
and everything she taught me
and then there’s my mom if my mums
taught me
what it means to be metis and all the
family stories my mom fought hard to
continue that
define as a community where we would be
included and understood to keep that
connection alive
my mom works hard to do this with other
kids in the community too
she works hard to make sure that kids
who know these hardships too well and
too early
come out come out of it stronger on the
other side
but her job is made harder by ignorance
she works with a lot of people who don’t
understand who we are
who don’t know where we came from and at
the end of the day don’t think that
we’re indigenous
this disconnect leads to the feeling of
being a billboard or a target
the need to explain herself day after
day in a job she’s been in for 10 years
but it’s a big gift she gives me in
other kids in the community
of remembering who we are having places
where we are understood and accepted
and she gives me the inspiration to
fight for people in places that aren’t
designed for us
that’s kind of where i’m at now i’m
still figuring out where i fit in
i’m still trying to answer big questions
i still have doubt about my identity
and i’m still working hard to learn and
unlearn and re-learn
all of these different facets of who we
are because of the system that we’ve
grown up in
and the fact that this history that i’ve
shared with you has been made largely
invisible
one of the biggest lessons i’ve learned
from these stories is that i have a
unique role in the community
my job is to figure out who who i am and
what i’m good at
and how to do it well to serve others
we’ve always relied on each other
and we continue to rely on each other
all of these stories speak to the main
values of who we
are the reciprocity the kindness the
love
that’s who we are that’s what allowed my
great-great-grandma marguerite to fight
for our people
that’s what allowed my great-grandma
cecile to walk across the province to
connect with family who
who would take care of her and love her
for who she was
that’s what allowed my mums to teach me
who i am and to be proud of it despite
the hardships
that’s what allows my mom to walk beside
other youth in unimaginable hardships
and come out on the other side stronger
that’s what allows me to stand here in
front of you today and tell you proudly
that i met
and that metis people are these stories
these people
these places these values that this is
home
this is community this is identity
and it’s these shared experiences that
play a huge role in this
in our survival our survival is
dependent on this community
it’s dependent on all of our relations
the stories that we share the stories
that we’ve always shared they keep us
together and they keep us connected
and it’s shocking and comforting that
recognition
when you run across another metis
another relation
and you share those stories and you go
oh that story is the same as mine
our cucumbers lived through the same
thing our mushrooms knew each other
my auntie is your auntie
and it’s not uncommon to feel a rush of
emotions
when you realize this stranger isn’t a
stranger that it’s
community sitting beside you and
standing next to you and that they’re
reflecting back to you who you are
and again it comes down to that this is
the survival
the sharing of a simple story it’s
comforting and resilience building
it feels like coming home
these stories culture community they’re
shared widely
and again they’re incredible but not
uncommon
almost every matey person i’ve met has
got some kind of story about kitchen
parties
jigging bannock taking care of each
other
showing that reciprocity that kindness
that love
because it was hard living and it is
still hard living
and we won’t get through it alone our
survival is dependent on the strength we
share as a community
the willingness of our people to reach
out and help to provide support
to pass down these stories to be brave
strong and generous
our community is these intergenerational
values of sharing and giving and
receiving
of honesty trust and faith being
means showing this reciprocity kindness
and love in everything that we do
we’re known by many names metis
machiff half breed road allowance people
the bra brulee the half burnt men
the flower beadwork people the forgotten
people
the free people otipemswak
the people who own themselves and all of
these names
reflect a chapter of our history and the
fact that we are a strong people
that we are a people in charge of
ourselves that we are resilient
and we are still here even though we’ve
been hidden in plain sight for
generations
despite the fact that we’re the fastest
growing indigenous population in canada
the world’s youngest people the stories
that i’ve shared and my own experience
really reflect back to me that people
don’t know who we are and where we come
from
how we move in the world and that these
stories are incredible but not
uncommon these are not the stories that
are being told
and because they’re not the stories that
are being told that tells us that
recognizing metis people matters
respecting our culture matters upholding
our rights matter
telling each other these stories matters
because the well-being of my people
depends on knowing who we are and where
we come from
my non-metis relations i hope that by
sharing this with you today you
understand a little bit more about who
we are
where we fit and what we need from you i
hope that you understand that by not
seeing hearing or understanding us we’re
being hurt in the process
and that this is the same process and
the same problems
and the same barriers that my great
great grandma faced
and that those problems are still alive
and well today even though they may look
a little different
the only way to change this is
understanding us better
and so i’d like to challenge you to
reevaluate your understanding of who the
metis are
and begin to replace the stories that
you’ve been told or taught to believe
about us
with the stories that we’re telling you
about who we are
where we come from what matters to us
where we’re going moving forward that’s
the best way that you can support the
well-being of our people
my metis relations i’m really hoping
that you’re feeling
seen and heard and reminded of who you
are today
because we’re from the same strong
people
your identity is valid no matter where
you are on that identity journey
no matter what you’re questioning what
you’re still figuring out
the missing parts of the stories your
identity is valid
and what you choose to do with it is
just as valid
there is no one way to be metis whether
or not you know the stories
grew up in the culture or carry a card
what matters is that you’re doing your
best to remember who you are
who your people are and when and if
you’re ready
we’re waiting here to open to welcome
you back with open arms
i’d like to close today with another
story about my mum
it’s the one it’s one we tell often in
our family and it kind of just pops up
in the weirdest places
um just everywhere we went when we were
kids she would always stop us
and pause and she would point out um
those bright
yellow dandelions that would grow in the
oddest places
and she would show gratitude for it how
amazing she would say
that life can pop up in the middle of a
crack on the cement the middle of a
highway barricade
or in the middle of a nosy neighbor’s
perfectly manicured lawn
it’s beautiful that life can take root
in such odd places
and maybe that’s all i am maybe that’s
the overarching story of me and my
relations
maybe it’s the easiest way to explain
who we are
as a metis woman growing up proud of
culture in an odd place
in an odd time and in a country which
has continually tried to deny the
existence
resilience and survival of her people
for more generations than she can count
i think i find myself in the same boat
as those dandelions
and how beautiful how special how
amazing is that
we are alive and surviving and thriving
in these oddest places
we are as tough as weeds we are bright
like those dandelions against the
concrete
in places that our ancestors never
imagined
to quote maria campbell’s famous
biography half-breed
i stand here today and i only want to
say that this is what it was like
and this is what it’s still like my
question for you
is what role are you playing in the
stories that this generation of metis
people are living today
marcy thank you