The Metis Homeland: Its Settlements and Communities1

The Metis Homeland: Its Settlements and Communities1 Compiled by Lawrence Barkwell, Leah Dorion and Darren Préfontaine Sixth edition, 2012 In Canada, hunting and harvesting rights are high on the Metis agenda. This has been particularly true since the Supreme Court’s ruling on Powley (September 2003) established that the Metis do have a Constitutional right to hunt and harvest. It has therefore become even more im- portant to establish how the Metis hunted and harvested right across the Old Northwest before there was a USA-Canada border and before provincial and territorial boundaries were drawn. To this end, the Metis National Council and its affiliates have been documenting the history of Metis settlement and resource use across the Metis Homeland. Orally based community histories allow Métis people to describe their own historical experiences. Numerous Métis groups, aided by historians and anthropologists, have conducted interviews with Elders in order to document the historical viewpoint of Métis people. While community studies are an expanding area of Métis Studies, more literature is needed to describe how the relationships between various Métis communities evolved. These community remembrances delineate a fundamental theme of Métis history—diversity of experience. Each Métis community, despite a commonly held culture and life experiences similar to other Métis communities, has a unique history, and slightly different cultural practices. This was amply demonstrated when individuals from a variety of Métis communities submitted reports to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. 1 Some of this information was previously presented in the books “Resources for Metis Researchers” and “Metis Legacy,” published by the same editors. .” For information on the Metis communities in British Columbia and the part of the Pacific Northwest known as Oregon Country readers are referred to George R.D. Goulet, and Terry Gou- let: The Métis in British Columbia: From Fur Trade Outposts to Colony. Calgary, Alberta: FabJob Inc, 2008. 1 There is now more community history publicly available on the Métis of Montana although Canadians are not generally aware of the history of this group. Rosalyn LaPier (1996) has made use of oral history and traditional research to document the history of her Métis family in Mon- tana. Vern Dusenberry (1954, 1985) has written extensively about the Métis group associated with Rocky Boy’s Reserve. More recently Franklin and Bunte (1996) have completed research and have written extensively on the Shell River Métis. These writers have documented that in Montana there are two Métis groups, the Pembina Métis who migrated from the east, and a mi- nority subgroup of Canadian Métis who migrated directly to Montana after the 1885 Resistance and then intermarried with the Pembina Métis. The U.S. government Bureau of Indian Affairs is now in the process of establishing recognition for this Montana group. Nicholas Vrooman’s video, When They Awake (1995), produced by the University of Great Falls, Institute of Métis Studies, has several interviews with Métis Elders from Montana. Métis community histories are also empowering because they allow Elders to give voice to the Métis experience. Some excellent community histories include: Emile Pelletier’s (1980) Le Vécu des Métis; Ken and Victoria Zelig’s (1997) Ste. Madeleine, Community Without a Town; Rita Shilling’s (1983) Gabriel’s Children; and Kermit Moore’s (1982) Kipawa: Portrait of a People . Pelletier writes an interesting social history of the Manitoba Métis which includes in- sights into finger weaving, bison hunts, the fishery, salt making, maple sugar manufacturing and Seneca root gathering. The Zelig’s collection of Elder’s stories offer a particularly poignant dis- cussion of the destruction of their community and their eventual dispersal to various parts of the Prairies when the government implemented the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act , which created community pastures on marginal land. The Elders in Gift Lake Alberta (David May, 1984) provide the reader with an interesting series of vignettes regarding traditional Métis social and economic activities. Nicole St. Onge (1983, 1984, and 1985) has conducted numerous interviews with Métis Elders in central Mani- toba. Robert Longpré (1976) has collected many Elders’ stories from the community of Ile-a-la Crosse for the Bi-Centennial book produced by the Local Community Authority. The Cumber- land House Bicentennial Committee also produced a community history in 1974, A History of Cumberland House: … as told by its own citizens 1774 to 1974 . The Métis residents of Willow Bunch, Saskatchewan have contributed many new stories to their community history in Poplar Poles and Wagon Trails: A Mosaic of Willow Bunch R.M. #42 (1998). Gail Paul Armstrong’s article, “The Métis: The Development and Decline of Métis Influ- ence in an Early Saskatchewan Community” (In Thelma Poirier [2000]), discusses the founding of Willow Bunch by the Métis in 1880 and their gradual disenfranchisement by French-Canadian farmers. A more comprehensive community history, The History of the Metis of Willow Bunch, has been written by Ron Rivard and Catherine Littlejohn (2003). Using extensive oral history and interviews, Diane Payment has written a comprehensive social history of the Batoche Métis, The Free People – Otipemisiwak (1990). Payment analyzes this Métis community’s self-governing political system, economic activities, family structures, relations with First Nations and French Canadians, and the impact of the North-West Resistance on their group identity. Payment’s major contribution is in elucidating key aspects of Métis his- 2 tory, which was previously little known outside of the Métis community. For instance, she argues that the Batoche Métis had a strong tradition of self-governance. Representative Metis Communities Alberta Metis Settlements: In 1928, a small group of Metis in the Cold Lake area began to organize. This group, led by Charles Delorme, established L’Association des Métis de l’Alberta et des Territories du Nord-Ouest. This led Joe Dion and a number of other Metis lead- ers incorporate the Metis Association of Alberta in 1932. They then began extensive lobbying for measures to counteract Metis poverty. At this time it had become clear that the government scrip programs had been inadequate and by the turn of the century most Metis in Alberta were squatting on Crown land. The transfer of natural resources from federal to provincial jurisdic- tion in 1938 opened up large areas of Crown land for homesteading and squatter’s rights were no longer recognized. These events as well as the Depression impacted the Metis. Their situa- tion was desperate. As a result, the Ewing Commission was set up in 1938 to review the situa- tion of the Metis in Alberta. This commission recommended that land be set aside for the Metis with limited self-governing authority over hunting, fishing and trapping. 3 The present day Metis Settlements of Alberta. The first settlements (first called “Colonies”) to be established were: • Buffalo Lake (Caslan) or Beaver River * • Cold Lake • East Prairie (south of Lesser Slave Lake)* • Elizabeth (east of Elk Point)* • Fishing Lake (Packechawanis)* • Gift Lake (Ma-cha-cho-wi-se) or Utikuma Lake* • Kikino* (Goodfish Lake) • Marlboro • Paddle Prairie (or Keg River)* • Peavine (Big Prairie, north of High Prairie)* • Touchwood • Wolf Lake (north of Bonnyville) * The eight current Metis Settlements. In the 1960s, the settlements of Marlboro, Cabinet Order-in-Council removed Touchwood, Cold Lake and Wolf Lake from the Metis regime. In 1990, Accord Legislation passed giving 4 the Metis people the 1.25 million acres of land on the remaining eight settlements via the Metis Settlements Act , the Metis Accord Implementation Act , the Metis Land Protection Act and the Constitution of Alberta Amendment Act . Adrian Hope, Maurice L'Hirondelle, Lawrence Desjarlais, Sam Johnston and Richard Poitras – formed the Alberta Federation of Metis Settlements in 1975, to create a working relationship between the Alberta government and the Metis Settlements. The relationship worked to im- prove legislation and promote self-government. The Federation pressed the Alberta government for funding and, more importantly, a voice for the Metis communities that were established in 1938. Finally, in 1990, after several years of intense negotiation, the Federation realized their objective when the new Metis Settlements Accord was adopted and ratified by the province. Through the Accord, which provisioned land and self-government, the Metis Settlements Gen- eral Council was born. In May 20, 1975 the Alberta Federation of Metis Settlements (AFMS) became a registered society under the Societies Act of Alberta making the AFMS a legal entity. The AFMS then became the Metis Settlements General Council in 1990 after the Metis Settle- ments Accord was signed. Some of the Presidents of the Metis Settlement Association (to 1990) and its successor organization, the General Council, are: William Erasmus, Clifford Gla- due, Maurice L’Hirondelle, Elmer Ghostkeeper, Joe Courtepatte, Gary Parenteau, Randy Hardy, Ken Noskey, Richard Blyan, Harry Supernault and Alden Armtrong. Arctic Red River, NWT: This community is situated at the forks of the Arctic Red and Mackenzie Rivers. The present day location is what was in earlier times a Dene and Metis fishing camp location. Baie St. Paul, «Saulteaux Village» Manitoba: Baie St. Paul was a French-Metis parish of the Red River Settlement located west of Fort Garry on the Assiniboine River between the French-Metis parish of St. François Xavier and the English-Metis parish of Poplar Point to the west. Baie St. Paul was located about eight kilometres east of today's St. Eustache, Manitoba. This community dates back to 1832 when Father George Antoine Belcourt established a mission on the south side of the Assiniboine River. In July of 1832 Father Belcourt selected a site for his mission along the Assiniboine River where a large number of Indians and Metis gathered in the spring. The mission was to be named under the protection of Saint Paul, Apostle of the Gentiles.

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