Author Archives: CBuss

Module 3 – Post 1 Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change

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Reading this weeks readings reminded me of a documentary I had seen a few years back.  It is entitled “Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change”.  The documentary was written, produced, and directed by Zacharias Kunuk, is presented almost entirely in Inuktitut, and features interviews with Mary Simon as well as many Inuit elders.  In the documentary the Inuit present their observations that prove that climate change is happening.  The Inuit elders have hundreds if not thousands of years of traditional oral history that they rely on in order to provide food for their families through hunting and fishing.  Unfortunately, the climate is changing, and hunting and fishing are becoming harder to do.

The Inuit present evidence for the following:

  • later freeze up
  • earlier break up and melt
  • decreased thickness of shelf ice
  • change to weather patterns and prevailing winds
  • change in behaviour of seals and polar bears
  • change in the earth’s tilt, changing star navigation and position of sun on horizon
  • increase in pollution in the north

Also presented are alternate reasons for the decline of the polar bear population (although the Inuit assert that the bears are not in decline) and the seal population.  The Inuit elders feel that the wildlife biologists are to blame for the decline in the animal populations, and that the methods of tracking with helicopters and tagging is causing more harm.  In a few well presented and passionate speeches, the elders present their love for and kinship with the animals and assert that the Inuit are not and could not ever bring harm to the animals.

The Inuit know that climate change is happening, but fell powerless to do anything about it. Their hope is that by presenting this information that more people will sit up and take notice.  The video is approximately 54 minutes long and is well worth a view.

View the video for yourself here.

Module 2 – Post 5 – Who are the Metis?

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The Metis Nation of Ontario website provides a great resource for research into Metis culture.  The Website provides a look into Metis culture from both a historical and a contemporary point of view, including areas such as language, leaders, symbols and traditions.

The website also provides information on current and ongoing legislative battles that the Metis are engaging in with provincial and federal governments to regain and perpetuate their rights and culture.  Particular attention is  given to reference to the Powley case, which has reaffirmed the Metis right to maintaining their culture through hunting and gathering activities on their traditional lands.

I think the Metis Nation of Ontario’s website is a good example of using the technology of the internet to both protect and further the culture of the Metis People.

The website can be found here: Metis Nation of Ontario

Module 2 – Post 4 – Rights Granted to Metis

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When thinking about how governments need to provide support for Indigenous groups in maintaining their culture, I cam across an article from the CBC News.  The article discusses the recent court victory that affirms that the government of Canada has the same responsibilities to the  Metis and Non-Status Indians under the Canadian Constitution as they do to Status Indians.  While the judgment did not go so far as to spell out what the duties of the government are, it clarified that it is the federal and not the provincial government who bears the responsibility.  The court battle has been going on since 1999, and is widely expected to be appealed by the government of Canada.

The article provides links to a full text copy of the court ruling as well as links to other background information on Indigenous rights issues.

You can read the story here:

Federal Court Grants rights to Metis, Non-Status Indians

Module 2 – Post 3 – Virtual Museum

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The Virtual Museum of Canada has a great website entitled “Back to Batoche”.  The website is a virtual museum of sorts, and includes both historical and contemporary information on Metis culture.  The website is organized into two sections with many subsections each:

1885 Batoche

Involvement from Other Places

  • Duck Lake
  • Fish Creek
  • Red River
  • Western Canada
  • Central Canada

Areas of Interest

  • Tipi
  • Farm Life
  • General Store
  • House Visit
  • School/Post Office
  • Church
  • Cemetary
  • Battlefield
  • Middleton’s Zareba
  • Red River Cart
  • Northcote

Key People

  • Gabriel Dumont
  • Louis Riel

Present day Batoche

Areas of Interest

  • Festival House
  • Race Course
  • Voyageur Games
  • Grandstand
  • Fire Pit
  • Souvenir Stand

Visit Town of Batoche

  • Visitor Reception
  • Church
  • Zareba
  • East Village
  • Rifle Pits and River Lots

The website includes video clips, sound recordings, photographs, and drawings that depict the various sections.  The website also includes interviews, recipes, games, language lessons, and more.  It would be a great resource for anyone wishing to explore aspects of Metis history related to the 1885 Resistance and/or contemporary Metis culture.

The website is here: Back to Batoche

Module 2 – Post 2 – National Film Board of Canada

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While researching Nanook of the North and looking for other film based cultural media, I came across the Daughters of the Country film series that was produced by the National Film Board of Canada.  The series dramatize general themes and time periods in Metis history, from 1770 to present day.  Film descriptions provided by NFB Canada.  All films are available on the National Film Board of Canada’s website for online viewing, and/or purchase.

The films are:

1) Ikwe – This film features a young Ojibwa girl from 1770 who marries a Scottish fur trader and leaves home for the shores of Georgian Bay. Although the union is beneficial for her tribe, it results in hardship and isolation for Ikwe. Values and customs clash until, finally, the events of a dream Ikwe once had unfold with tragic clarity.

2) Mistress Madeleine – This film, set in the 1850s, unfolds against the backdrop of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s monopoly of the fur trade. In protest, some Métis engage in trade with the Americans. Madeleine, the Métis common-law wife of a Hudson’s Bay Company clerk, is torn between loyalty to her husband and loyalty to her brother, a freetrader. Even more shattering, a change in company policy destroys Madeleine’s happy and secure life, forcing her to re-evaluate her identity.

3) Places Not Of Our Own – This film, set in 1929, depicts how Canada’s West, home to generations of Métis, was taken over by the railroads and new settlers. As a result, the Métis became a forgotten people, forced to eke out a living as best they could. At the forefront is Rose, a woman determined to provide her children with a normal life and an education despite the odds. But due to their harsh circumstances, a devastating and traumatic event transpires instead.

4) The Wake – This film , set in contemporary Alberta, is the story of the love affair that blossoms between a well-meaning Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer and a young Metis woman. The Metis have a strong sense of community but there is also a feeling of separateness defined by racial origins and economics. In this atmosphere, the romance offers a new sense of hope. Then, during a dark winter’s night on a frozen lake, something happens to change the lovers’ lives forever.

The films are available here: National Film Board of Canada

Module 2 – Post 1 – Thinking Critically

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Assessing and Validating Resources— Aboriginal Heritage

The Assessing and Validating Resources document was created by the Library and Archives of Canada as a tool to help researchers in vetting their sources.  As quoted from the document: ” The assessment tool for validating appropriate content introduces critical thinking and analysis when locating and using both primary and secondary sources.  The following checklist assists the researcher to consider how resources present Aboriginal documentary heritage, in text and imagery.”

This tool seems like it would be very helpful to use in the evaluation of cultural resources.  The questions are straight forward and easy to understand.  In addition, the questions explore a variety of important areas related to content production, language, imagery, Indigenous knowledge vs world views, and traditional vs contemporary portrayals of First Nations Inuit and Metis.  While the resource could be made easier with the addition of a scale or checklist, it nevertheless provides though provoking questions that encourage critical reflection.  I can’t help but think that if the US school system used this kind of tool then maybe a book like “The Education of Little Tree” would not have made it into their curriculum.

Assessing and Validating Resources— Aboriginal Heritage

Who are the Métis peoples?

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One of the central questions in ETEC 521 is: “How do communities balance educating non-Indigenous people, while preserving their culture?”  However, in order to answer this question as it pertains to the Métis peoples, one first needs to have an understanding of who the Métis peoples are.  However, the answer to the question of Métis identity seems to depend on who you ask. “Métis peoples insist that they are part of a distinctive cultural group.  However, Métis identity is frequently misinterpreted by non-Métis to refer simply to Aboriginal-European ancestry” (Ouellet and Hanson, 2008).

The question of Métis identity is an important one for me personally because my family has Métis ancestry.  In terms of my profession, I am interested in both the traditional and contemporary representations of the Métis presented in K-12 education.

My research project will investigate how the Métis are working to preserve and celebrate their culture while at the same time educate non-Indigenous people as to what it means to be Métis.

I will explore the following themes in my project:

Identity: Who are the Métis Peoples?  How do they define themselves?  How are they defined by others? How have these definitions changed over time?  Why does it matter?

Technology: How are the Métis using technology for historical research, cultural expression, cultural preservation, and education?

Possible sources of information include:

Module 1 – Post 5 – Metis Museum

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One of the central themes of Etec521 investigates how technology can be used by Indigenous peoples to reconnect with, archive, and share their identities and culture.  With that in mind, most of my posts for this module have centered around websites that provide online access to historical documentation and information on Metis culture.  For my final post for this module I chose to feature the website: The Virtual Museum of Metis Hitory and Culture.  This website is designed and maintained by the Gabriel Dumont Institute of Native Studies and Applied Reseach in Saskatchewan, Canada.

The virtual museum provides a wealth of information in the following categories:

  • Indigenous Voices – Contains video clips of Michif language interviews
  • Metis Celebration – Video and audio files celebrating Metis music, dance and storytelling
  • Metis Heritage – Oral histories, photographs, and Metis Resistance documentation
  • Learning Resources – Information on traditional Metis lifestyle and education
  • Artistic Expressions – Materials honoring traditional and contemporary Metis art forms
  • Moccasin Telegraph – Links to other Metis resources around the web

The website is very user friendly, and I think provides a wonderful example of how technology can be used by Indigenous groups to preserve and share the visible aspects of their culture.

The website can be found here: Metis Virtual Museum

Module 1 – Post 4 – Glenbow Museum

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I had an opportunity last September to visit the Glenbow Museum, which is located in Calgary, Alberta.  My quest was to visit their archives in hopes of finding information for the family tree project I have been working on for the past ten years.  Glenbow’s website contains links to searchable databases of resources that are available at the archives.  Unfortunately, very few of the materials have been digitized and therefore a visit to the archives will be required if you wish to investigate your initial finds further.

The website is available here: The Glenbow Museum and Archives

 

Module 1 – Post 3 – The Metis Centre

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I found the Metis Centre when researching for articles on Metis health.  The website hosts a large, searchable database that include census referenced statistical tables and a great deal of literature on Metis health and well-being.   Also included on the website are links to current projects, cultural videos, fact sheets, and a Metis Newsletter.  The Metis Centre’s moto is, “Our Health: Strengthened by Sharing”.

From the website: “The Métis Centre is one of three population-specific centres within the National Aboriginal Health Organization (NAHO). Incorporated in 2000, NAHO is an Aboriginal founded and guided institution whose aim is to advance and promote the health and well-being of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis.  The Métis Centre strives to develop accessible, culturally relevant and safe health and well-being information for a variety of audiences including, but not limited to, researchers, governments, and Métis individuals, families, and communities.”

The Metis Centre would be a great jumping off point for any heath related research of the Metis community.

The website is located here: The Metis Centre