The True Canadians

Celebrated Métis lawyer and author Jean Teillet never expected to be arguing a case about “a moose in Sault Ste. Marie” in the highest court in the land. But when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the Powley Case that the Métis had a right to hunt, Teillet realized it was an enormous victory. The case, which put the Métis into what Teillet described as the legal “big leagues,” became renowned f...

Preeminent Métis poet Marilyn Dumont has spent a lifetime unlearning the racist discourses that permeated her formal education. She grew up in a colonial schooling system more interested in erasing her identity – what Dumont calls a legacy of gaslighting – than providing students with an accurate portrayal of Canadian history. Even though she began writing at a very young age, Dumont tells host Da...

Popular culture often equates archeology with the trials and tribulations of Hollywood blockbusters like Indiana Jones. But when it comes researching Métis history, the film’s star Harrison Ford need not apply. Instead, the Métis look to researchers like Kisha Supernant , who uses digital spatial data instead of whips to find such archival treasures as beadwork instead of gold chests. Like Indiana...

Youth have a long a history of making significant contributions to Métis culture, politics, and arts. Louis Riel himself was under 30 years of age during the 1869 Red River Resistance. Bailey Oster is proudly carrying on this tradition, having started her involvement in Métis government leadership at just 15 years of age, and having been elected the Vice-President of the Métis women’s organization...

Harvesting is a proud and age-old Métis tradition extending back to the fur trade. It contributes greatly to Métis recognition, as perhaps best illustrated in the Powley legal case that argued Métis hunting rights were enshrined in section 35 of the Constitution Act . In a huge victory, the Supreme Court ruled the Powleys were exercising lawful Métis hunting rights. Though he has little interest i...

It isn’t every day your image graces a billboard in New York City’s Times Square, one of the most famous tourist attractions in the world. But for proud Métis citizen  Lorelei Higgins Parker , it’s one honour among many. A veteran of pageantry, Lorelei just won the title of Mrs. Unity World Elite while at the world competition in New Delhi, India. When she found the symbols of her Métis heritage l...

If Métis Crossing is the hub of Métis tourism in Alberta, Lt(N) Keith Diakiw’s Talking Rock Tours is a shining example of the many Indigenous attraction spokes that are now connecting the province’s landscape in a meaningful way. Talking Rock provides educational tours of the geological wonders of Alberta, and Keith adds a wealth of natural and cultural storytelling that enhances his one-of-a-kind...

She was a young child when she was taken from her home in the Northwest Territories and placed in a boarding school run by an order of Catholic nuns. Even at such a young age, Angie Crerar knew that what was happening to her and others was wrong. Her story is one of many that recount the horrid legacy of Residential schools, and which collectively stain the history of Canada. In the latest episode...

The Strength of Métis Women Each year, during Métis Week in November, the Delia Gray Gala honours a remarkable figure among Métis women in Alberta. Delia Gray was the first Provincial Elder of the Métis Nation of Alberta, now known as the Otipemisiwak Métis Government. This annual event features a dinner, live music, and other forms of entertainment. Additionally, it awards post-secondary scholars...

The Métis do not experience poorer health than non-Indigenous communities because of their cultural practices or ethnicity. On the contrary, the Métis emerged from a vibrant, active history seeded in the fur trade and buffalo hunt. Rather, the trend toward a higher prevalence of illnesses among Métis is rooted in the intergenerational trauma that has resulted from systemic racism, oppressive and e...

The high cost of housing is a challenge for most Canadians. But it can be particularly difficult for the Métis, many of whom can’t draw on the support that a long family history of home ownership can provide. Others grew up without the benefit of access to quality housing whatsoever. It’s a problem that extends back to the “road allowance” days, when Métis were forced off their land and forced to...

North America’s bison, once numbering in the millions, were facing extinction due to European colonialism, commercial hunting, government policy, and industrialization. At their lowest point, only a few hundred remained. We may never see the enormous herds that blackened the Prairies again, but there is one place where you can witness these majestic animals up close, amidst efforts to restore thei...

Civilization is going to need to burn fossil fuels for a little while longer. The only real questions are how much longer — and how to make the transition to renewable power. Overseeing the contribution that the Métis Nation of Alberta will make to that transition is  Andres Filella . Born and raised in Ecuador, Filella moved to Edmonton for a degree in chemical engineering and then worked on gree...

“If somebody that’s been trained four times how to use an AK-47 is a couple of hundred yards from you, and they are trying to shoot you, you get shot.” Not exactly what a young NATO peacekeeper wants to hear. But like countless Métis who have found themselves in the middle of wars over the centuries, retired  Sgt.   Chuck Isaacs  has learned a few things as a member of the Canadian Forces. Métis f...

Rarely does a Métis gathering occur that doesn’t involve fiddle music. From kitchen parties to large community gatherings to huge events like Métis Fest in Alberta or Back to Batoche Days in Saskatchewan, fiddling is never far from the festivities. Many fiddlers learn at a very young age, like the students at Prince Charles School in Edmonton, who are featured in the book The True Canadians . In t...

Long before “economic development” became a popular catchphrase, the Métis had mastered the entrepreneurial spirit. Hundreds of years ago, the Métis were instrumental in establishing the fur trade and opening up vital transportation corridors across North America’s lands and waters. They nurtured what later became known the world over as Canada’s vibrant natural resource economy. In this episode,...

Canada prides itself on its tourism destinations. We’re known the world over for such landmarks as the CN Tower, Green Gables Heritage Place, and Whistler, BC. But one of the country’s most prized tourism destination may now be Métis Crossing, located on the shores of the North Saskatchewan River a short drive northeast of Edmonton, Alberta within the historic Victoria Settlement. Condé Nast Trave...

A generation ago, the typical Métis citizen who wanted to pursue higher learning or attend college or university had almost nowhere to turn for financial support, even though Métis leaders since Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont have embraced the power of education to lift their people. Even those who managed to graduate from high school often went no further because the cost of higher education was a...

Cassidy Caron, President of the Métis National Council, grew up with a passion for Métis culture, history, and politics in equal measures. Raised in an area of British Columbia with limited exposure to Métis communities, but with a deep family heritage in Batoche, Saskatchewan — famous for the Métis resistance led by Louis Riel in 1885 — Caron entered the political realm at a very early age. By th...

Having devoted a lifetime to Métis rights and activism, elder Tony Belcourt has seen it all. Raised in the historic Métis community at Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta, Belcourt quickly learned what Louis Riel realized 100 years earlier, that progress in Métis recognition meant going to one place: Ottawa. As the founding president of the Native Council of Canada, Belcourt took centre stage when the Métis ba...

The True Canadians, both the podcast and book, relies on Métis people to tell their own stories. But educating Canadians and advancing recognition and reconciliation won’t be complete until those stories are shared much more widely. Which is where Historica Canada can plays a big role. To find out how this national charitable organization, which uses rigorous research to explain “what it means to...

In the fall of 2003, in what would become known as a “watershed” moment for the Métis, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that when Steve Powley and his son Roddy shot a bull moose 10 years earlier near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, they were exercising their Métis right to hunt, as protected by section 35 of the Constitution Act of 1982. In the fourth episode of The True Canadians, the Podcast, Métis...

In the third episode of The True Canadians, host David Wylynko talks with Métis lawyer Jason Madden, who practices Aboriginal law with a focus on Indigenous rights litigation and negotiations, including the negotiation and implementation of self-government agreements, modern day treaties, and reconciliation-based agreements.  A graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School at York University and called to t...

From her small home community of Lac La Biche, Alberta, to the academic halls of the University of Calgary, to Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Rebecca Lavallee has taken huge leaps forward in a very short timespan. In the second episode of The True Canadians, host David Wylynko talks with Rebecca about the importance of family and community in fostering Métis youth with confidence and pride. These attr...

In the first episode of The True Canadians, host David Wylynko talks with Andrea Sandmaier , President of the Otipemisiwak Métis Government of the Métis Nation within Alberta, and Audrey Poitras , who recently retired as president. Sandmaier and Poitras share their views on the historic Métis journey toward legal recognition of their right to self-government, including the landmark legislation now...