Métis Awareness Month is being celebrated with Lloydminster Public School Division (LPSD) students. With November winding down, kids at Jack Kemp Community School enjoyed learning from the Lloydminster Native Friendship Centre.
Education coordinator, Laurie Harris, and community advocate, Nicole McCloud shared with the grade ones and twos about the importance of Rupert’s Land, the heroism of Louis Riel, the sash, jigging, Bannock, and Saskatoon berries.
McCloud who grew up Métis and now has Treaty status says there are many Métis kids at the school.
“It’s nice to connect with the kids and teach them about Métis culture. It’s really fun to see them get excited. A lot of them do not know many of the things that were going on,” says McCloud.
The Hudson Bay Company sold Rupert’s Land to the Dominion of Canada. The Métis were displaced from their land. This led to the Red River Resistance, 1869-70. The Métis people eventually formed a provisional government to negotiate entering the Confederation with what would later become Manitoba. But hostilities did not end there. The lack of Métis representation in the Northwest Treaty government would lead to the 1885 Northwest Resistance.
While the lecture to the kids did not go into the details, McCloud sees the importance of education about history as Canada charts a way forward.
“It’s by encouraging people to work together. All peoples. First Nations, Inuit, and Métis. And recognizing that they are the First People.”
Harris sees the importance of celebrating the positives of Métis heritage and the life of Louis Riel.
“I think the good work that he did is what’s important. We will tell them about some of the battles. But we don’t concentrate too much on the negative,” said Harris.
Louis Riel Day is observed on November 16 as part of a week of celebration of Métis culture.
