#ilnuatsh

[lesorciercanadien]

An angry French Canadian/Acadian’s rant to self-proclaimed “Eastern Métis” organizations

Please note that the term “Eastern Métis” in this case refers to a social movement that involves individual and organizational claims to being “Eastern Métis,” “Québec Métis,” “Acadian-Métis,” “Mi’kmaq-Métis,” “Algonquin-Métis,” and increasingly, false claims to being Algonquin, Mi’kmaq, Abenaki, Huron-Wendat, and other First Nation peoples whose territories are located in this region.

Hi there,

As someone who is actively attempting to build a modern, inclusive spiritual practice around my ancestry and our rich cultural and religious folk traditions in Quebec and Acadie, seeing this happen angers me. WE already have these beautifully musical, lively cultures full of folktales, spirits, and prayers, heck, we still have the woven ceinture fléchée, something we SHARE with various Indigenous and Métis cultures. You don't need to go shopping for a new identity.

Through the 1970s to today, especially from 2000 to today, there has been an explosive uptick of people in Quebec, Ontario and the Maritimes claiming to be Métis. This is often because mostly white French settler Canadians are finding distant Indigenous (or supposedly Indigenous; some have been debunked) ancestors from the 1600s to the 1800s and are now claiming an Indigenous or Métis identity. Worse, they are going to Canadian courts to “fight” for their rights under the Indian Act to hunt, fish, and stay in “traditional lands” that their ancestors were apparently always a part of. They rake in what little funding there is for their own self-serving individualism at the detriment of Indigenous and actual Métis sovereignty, and also committing tax fraud, issuing out their own status cards even!

What it really is, is a vehemence towards living, actual Indigenous nations and the Métis Nation, and attempting to claim rights and tax exemptions. Where were these folks when the residential schools' mass graves started being unearthed, when the 60s Scoop happened, with even now many communities have no potable water? If they didn't know about their ancestry, chances are their every-day life wouldn't change. Every time someone from those groups gets interviewed, they can NEVER really explain the community they’re a part of. They say “it’s complicated”, and they refer to themselves only as individuals with mixed blood, and THAT is what makes them “Eastern Métis”. Worse still, many of them started off as a ‘white rights', white supremacist groups. I see them pop up in news articles about celebrating long-standing friendships between Acadians and Mi'kmaq people, and it sickens me that the news reporters didn't do any further digging.

My own family tree is right within one of those groups’ supposed claims. Peter McLeod Sr. And his wife, Marie Madeleine Manitukueu Tshirnish (died before 1860) are a frequent apparition. It sickens me that they are using this lineage to justify their greed as I’m learning the history that my family went through. When I research into my lineage, I can’t help but try to imagine what must have happened to Marie Madeleine, marrying into a Scottish household that was destroying her land with reckless tree cutting and saw mills. How her daughter Angèle married a settler and farmed. I'm still trying to learn about the Ilnuatsh's people's perception of Peter McLeod Jr., supposed founder of Chicoutimi.

I also think of Angèle’s descendants, like my 4th great grand-father, who was exploring and guiding hunters and tourists through the woods, interacting with  Pekuakamiulnuatsh communities along the way (though I don't know to what degree and with what attitude). And his son clear-cutting the woods in his paper pulp factories. As I want to visit Mashteuiatsh yet again this October to appreciate their amazing Ilnu museum, to enjoy learning about their plant knowledge through their garden tours, and consulting their library, I grow more nervous of even approaching them for more information and see if I can foster community connections. It feels wrong now, even when I tell myself that cultural appreciation is encouraged.

I am no stranger to the initial feeling of ‘wow’ at finding my Indigenous roots in my tree. I get it. But you GOTTA move past it. It’s a complex emotional process, especially when you’re intelligent enough to recognize how colonialism still happens today. For me, the 1800s don’t seem that long ago. I still don’t have a right to claim what’s not mine. I have not had a link to Mashteuiatsh as a community growing up. My extended family lives within Saguenay, not thinking twice about the Ilnuatsh people living there. I don’t live nearby, and I can’t exactly just show up and expect to make friends. But I’d like to. I want to learn Nehlueun and to be humbly present and learn about the Ilnu culture, and most importantly, dedicate time to try to understand their current issues, and support in any way I can. I'm not perfect either. I want to be able to know my ancestors' names, and light a candle for them, remember them in a way that won't be like what these people are doing. Sadly it’s not that simple. And you, race-shifters, are making it so much worse.

Here is a comprehensive list of all these organisations for everyone to consult, so you can watch out for their books, essays, and flag them for what they are: frauds. Don’t support them. You’re probably wondering why I’m sharing a list if that’s going to push people towards them. I need to share it because when I am researching a website source, a reconciliation article on a news website, an essay or a book on history or folklore, they insidiously still manage to find their way in to blabber on and on about their rights. Don’t fall for it. If you see them in a source or bibliography while you’re researching Quebecois and Acadian folk ways, run.

For those interested in further reading, as I will be, here's a great book on this topic. Darryl Leroux is an associate professor at St. Mary's University in Halifax. His work focuses on racism and colonialism among descendants of French settlers.

Darryl Leroux’s book, Distorted Descent: White Claims to Indigenous Identity, 2019.

He is also the co-creator Raceshifting.com, where he monitors these groups and what they're trying to do in court.

Also, support Indigenous authors and artists with this website! I'll be perusing for books myself from Ilnuatsh authors.

[zolamtl]

Levée de fonds pour le Collectif des Premiers Peuples backpatches et prints lino sur zolamtl.storenvy.com Le Collectif des premiers peuples défenseurs des terres ancestrales a été créé par des chasseurs-cueilleurs ilnuastsh et abénaquis pour soutenir les luttes des premiers peuples qui sont au front. Plusieurs groupes autochtones se joignent au mouvement pour défendre leurs territoires et leurs peuples, car tous et toutes reconnaissent que l’eau, la terre, la vie, les plantes sont des choses vitales qui ne peuvent être négociées et qui doivent être protégées pour nos enfants et les générations futures. Le modèle d’extraction écocidaire colonial est un affront à ces relations que nous tentons de préserver.Tous les grands projets économiques signés par la Province de Québec et le Canada sont illégaux, nous ne les reconnaissons pas. Les conseils de bandes représentent l’entité fédérale, ils ont pour rôle l’assimilation. Un projet de gaz naturel ne pourra jamais nous accommoder. Les gouvernements coloniaux et les conseils de bande n’ont aucune juridiction sur les territoires ancestraux occupés depuis des millénaires par les familles ilnuatsh.

(via Home from Stuffs by Zola)

[lesorciercanadien]

For Pentecost, I decided to focus on journaling and learning about Ilnuatsh culture and learning important words and times of year.

As a Catholic festival of linguistic outreach, it is important for me to listen to other languages around me and their wisdom on this day.

I also like to work with Saint Anne for this purpose, as she is the patron saint of voyageurs and teaching scripture, and is an important grandmother figure among christian Indigenous spiritual practices in Québec and where the French settled.

Pentecost, with the Holy Spirit descending on me that day, allows me to hone my gifts, creativity, and open-heartedness to learn from others and perhaps, ask ancestors for guidance through Saint Anne’s protection in dreams. As her feast day approaches next month, I feel especially connected to her this year.

With the expedition campaign A la Mer du Nord 2025 on their way from Tadoussac, portaging their way in cedar canoes on old fur trade trails to Baie James until August, I feel like this is my year to begin learning about the cultures that made up my family during the fur trade, get even more connected with Nitassinan (Québec) and Pékuakami (Lac Saint Jean) landscapes, fauna and flora, and reconcile colonial ways of thinking and participating in support and friendship.

I’ll be visiting Saguenay in October, and I am so excited to feel that familiar earth under my feet again!

1200 kilometres of historic portaging routes, many grown with trees today. They’re filming a documentary of this expedition and I can’t wait to see it! They’re going as far north as my 4th great grandad did, so it’s a beautiful connection to my history that’s happening right now!

[lesorciercanadien]

Québékoisie (2014) - A Must-Watch for Reconciliation within Québec with the First Nations peoples

I just watched an amazing documentary tonight on the National Film Board of Canada's website. This documentary came at a perfect time in my life, when I had just spent the whole week prior wondering what I should do with my Ilnuatsh and Mi'kmaq roots in my family tree (1770s to 1860s), causing a tension headache. As Truth and Reconciliation is an active topic of discussion in Canada since the 94 Calls to Action were given in 2015's Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report (link to that below), it struck me that within my blood is reconciliation itself.

As a white settler descendant who is privileged just by my skin colour, university education and upbringing, I always felt uncomfortable digging deeper into my Indigenous roots. The increase of pretendians and egregious and dubious identity claims have left me unsure of how to responsibly explore my own relationship with my family tree. Even within my own folk catholic practice, I struggle with what my Quebecois and Acadian ancestors did (and what our systems still do) to the First Nations of Turtle Island. There are instances in my practice where our various cultures merge, such as plants used, and folklore surrounding northern lights (Acadians don't whistle at them either), and I know we shared cultural teachings and attire (the woven arrow sash). Still, it irked me when someone would say "Are you Métis?" on the street. I'd get all hot within with embarrassment that I may be perceived as someone who shouldn't be wearing it, and I don't want to give a history lesson every time someone asks me this. Métis are their own distinct people, and I have no link to the traditional Métis communities of the prairies. To anyone else, this wouldn't be bothersome and they keep going about their day. To me it is important, since my practice relies so heavily on ancestors' cultures and practices. What do I even do? To what degree can I explore Ilnuatsh and Mi'kmaq cultures without appropriating or disrespecting those of those cultures today, and not claim rights or practices that aren't mine to begin with?

Enter this documentary. In a province where the history of the First Nations and the settlers are so intertwined, how have we come to a place where we're so separated and wary of each other? I'll let this documentary teach you. Through the experience of an Ilnu man exploring his Norman ancestor, and of a Quebecois woman coming to terms with her brother's death during the Oka Crisis of 1990s, two bicyclists travel the North Shore region of Québec through the reserves of Mohawk, Atikamekw, Ilnuatsh, and northern Ilnu peoples, and attempt to uncover this cultural tension. It's only a 5$ rent on the National Film Board of Canada's website. I highly recommend it for anyone experiencing this tension and are seeking a way forward.

For now, I have signed up to learn some Nehlueun, the language of the Ilnuatsh of Mashteuiatsh, and I have signed up for my employer's Indigenous Employee Resource Group to actively listen to my Indigenous peers' experiences and support them in any way I can. I'll treat myself kindly, and remember that even if my family tree shows a history of colonialism, violence, and environmental degradation, I can still acknowledge and appreciate the memories of the Ilnuatsh and Mi'kmaq individuals I have found in my tree, and remember them through my learning today.

"Let's make no mistake, we should be proud of our origins, but the real pride begins now. Ancestors help us understand history, but community helps us build history." - Marco Bacon, Ilnu participant.