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