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 for recognizing the rights enshrined in section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. Charged with illegal hunting in 1993, the case of Steve Powley and his son Roddy laid the groundwork for subsequent rulings and negotiations that acknowledged Métis rights.

Many years later, after numerous other victories in court, Teillet took on perhaps an even greater challenge: chronicling the storied saga of the Métis in a “popular history.” Released in 2019, The Northwest is Our Mother quickly became the go-to book about the Métis and was a prime source of information for The True Canadians. Teillet explains to host David Wylynko that even though the Métis continue to face an uphill battle – typically negotiating through the Liberals and litigating through the Conservatives – she has a strong belief that a roadmap for the future of Canada is being laid, with the Métis figuring prominently in its design. Working since her retirement as an artist, Teillet tells listeners the reasons for her eternal optimism.

Notes

• A review of The Northwest is Our Mother
• The True Canadians website
• Intro and outro music by Métis musician Alex Kusturok
• Opening quote from an address by Métis leader Jim Sinclair during the 1987 Canadian constitutional talks

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 David Wylynko that for a while she gave up writing all together, before finding her interest rekindled during her university years.

Since then, Dumont has been writing to correct our interpretations of Canadian history and how the Métis are perceived. Much has changed in that time. Today, Dumont teaches Indigenous literature and creative writing at the University of Alberta. She focuses strongly on Indigegogy, which brings to the classroom Indigenous knowledge, literature, and scholarship and is focused on land-based education. But Dumont is still correcting Canadian history through poetry. Her latest collection, South Side of a Kinless River, is described as poetry that wrestles with concepts of Métis identity in a nation and territory that would rather erase it. Dumont explains why she is still a long way from putting down the pen.

Mentioned in this episode

• A Really Good Brown Girl (1996), Brick Books
• The Pemmican Eaters (2015) Misfit Book
• South Side of A Kinless River (2024) Brick Books
• The True Canadians website
• Intro and outro music by Métis musician Alex Kusturok
• Opening quote from an address by Métis leader Jim Sinclair during the 1987 Canadian constitutional talks

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 Jones, Supernant takes her research to the field, not for adventure and mayhem but, sadly, to use ground-penetrating radar to discover unmarked graves at former residential schools.

Of Métis descent, Supernant is the Director of the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archeology and Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Alberta. In her discussion with host David Wylynko, Supernant explains the difference between archeology and anthropology, uses beadwork and other artifacts to trace Métis lineage back to the fur trade across Canada, and delves into the need to upend a history of non-Indigenous academics dominating the tale of Indigenous history. Supernant describes the importance of Exploring Métis Identity Through Archaeology (EMITA), a collaborative research project that takes a relational approach to exploring the material past of Métis communities.

More information

• Kisha Supernant website
• Exploring Métis Identity Through Archaeology project
• College of News Scholars, Artists, and Scientists
• The True Canadians book
• Intro and outro music by Métis musician Alex Kusturok
• Opening quote from an address by Métis leader Jim Sinclair during the 1987 Canadian constitutional talks

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, New Dawn, when she was only 19. In a short span, Bailey rose to the position of Director of Youth Programs and Services for the Métis Nation of Alberta (now the Otipemisiwak Métis Government), and today is the senior policy advisor of intergovernmental and international relations with the Métis National Council.

In this episode, Bailey tells host David Wylynko how she went from “broke college kid” to a delegate at the United Nations. She describes what works when it comes to bringing young people together to preserve their culture (kitchen tables) and what doesn’t work (smart phones). She also reflects on the astounding success of the book she found time to edit along with Marilyn Lizee. Stories of Métis Women: Tales My Kookum Told Me covers a great range of subjects, including nation-building, culture, identity, and resilience, as well as the disheartening experiences of residential schools, discrimination, and racism.

Resources:

• Otipemisiwak Métis Government Youth Services Department
• The True Canadians book
• Intro and outro music by Métis musician Alex Kusturok
• Opening quote from an address by Métis leader Jim Sinclair during the 1987 Canadian constitutional talks

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 in politics, Craig Letendre is a prime authority on harvesting, and responsible for overseeing the portfolio for the Otipemisiwak Métis Government. In this episode, Craig traces his interest in harvesting to the lessons his grandparents gave him when he was growing up in Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta. Today, Craig helps Métis hunters and fishers across the province understand their Indigenous rights and runs a series of increasingly popular fishing camps. As he tells host David Wylynko, the Métis approach to managing wildlife resources isn’t about hard quotas, but what it takes to feed a family. He also provides a few tips on how to snare rabbits and when not to hunt for moose.

Resources

• Otipemisiwak Métis Government Harvesting report
• The True Canadians book
• Intro and outro music by Métis musician Alex Kusturok
• Opening quote from an address by Métis leader Jim Sinclair during the 1987 Canadian constitutional talks

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 lacking on the international pageant stage — the sash, the language, the unique dance — she set out to bring her culture to the world, with astounding success. At the time of this interview, Lorelei was the reigning Mrs. Unity World Canada. She also served as Mrs. Canada Globe from 2020 to 2023.

In view of the global whirlwind that such recognition often engenders, what keeps Lorelei grounded? As she explains to host David Wylynko, Lorelei always has one foot firmly in the realm of advocacy, acting as a Canadian Indigenous anti-racism consultant and cultural mediator and a positive peace activator. She is also the Team Lead for Indigenous Relations for the City of Calgary. Through all these roles, Lorelei nurtures projects that foster relations with Indigenous communities and enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion. She credits much of her accomplished career to a turning point in her youth, when the Rotary Exchange program first took her from her Alberta home and out into the world, an experience that later brought her full circle to a recognition of a long-lost and nearly forgotten Métis heritage.

Resources:

• Lorelei Higgins Parker at the Speakers Bureau of Canada
• ⁠The True Canadians⁠ book
• Intro and outro music by Métis musician ⁠Alex Kusturok⁠
• Opening quote from ⁠an address by Métis leader Jim Sinclair⁠ during the 1987 Canadian constitutional talks

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 experience. Keith is well positioned for his GEO (Geo Experience Officer) and Indigenous Guide roles, having been university educated in physical geography, anthropology/archaeology, and even geology.

As he explains to host David Wylynko, Keith can also combine his entrepreneurial instincts with the discipline of a military career — in fact he remains to this day a naval officer of the Canadian Armed Forces — and his Board Member roles with Indigenous Tourism Alberta and the Interpretative Guides Association. That’s in addition to a decade working in the oil sands. Keith’s tour offerings are part of a growth effort across the country to encourage a greater understanding of the authentic Indigenous experience and its First Peoples history. Having grown in leaps in bounds over the past 10 years, Indigenous tourism is helping an increasingly global audience gain a greater appreciation for this precious and often overlooked attribute of Canadian heritage.

Mentioned in this episode:

• A video introduction to Talking Rock Tours
• The True Canadians book
• Intro and outro music by Métis musician Alex Kusturok
• Opening quote from an address by Métis leader Jim Sinclair during the 1987 Canadian constitutional talks

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 of The True Canadians podcast, Angie shares with host David Wylynko what it means to be taken from a loving family and denied even the most rudimentary human respect. In a remarkable display of resilience and hope, Angie also describes her journey toward forgiveness for such egregious treatment. She tells of how much it meant to get the chance to journey to Rome and express her feelings to the head of the Catholic Church: Pope Francis himself.

Resources

• The True Canadians website
• Angie Crerar and the papal apology (Global TV)
• Intro and outro music by Métis musician Alex Kusturok
• Opening quote from a address by Métis leader Jim Sinclair during the 1987 Canadian constitutional talks