#michif

[piizunn]

Colonizer Classics, 2024

Glass seed beads, beeswax, nylon

[allthecanadianpolitics]

A five-year, $15-million funding commitment from the federal government will help give the Michif language "a chance to survive and to prosper," the Manitoba Métis Federation says. The federation and the federal government formally announced the funding agreement at the Manitoba Métis Federation office in Winnipeg on Thursday afternoon. Michif, a Métis language spoken in parts of Canada and the U.S. that combines elements of Cree, French and other languages, is "critically endangered," the Métis Federation says.

Continue reading

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

[bumblehaven]

A mixed media piece I've been working on; primarily acrylic on wood with addition of paint markers and various colored pencil types. I cannot stress to you enough how excited I am about how this piece is coming.

[noesqape]

pt 1 of convincing everyone nightbrother culture is métis coded

moo vyeu zhawkihow ᡣ𐭩

[skruffie]

Dibaajimowin. Kade Ferris put this site together as a hub for research--both in stories but also to provide links on learning Ojibwe, Cree, and Michif.

[aleksiann]

Niimiyitoohk (Dancing Together)

[lilybeanie-art]

shes my sunshine

contemporary & antique beads on wool, antique steel cut beads, backed with commercially tanned deer leather

lil baby bolo I haven't made a cord for yet <3

[natevenhere]

Métis Ribbon Skirt I Made

made this a while ago for a cultural fashion show!! The cardinal represents my family history and the bear is a symbol for a family story!!

[ceeroosa]

this is a website of resources created by intermediate southern michif language champions and knowledge keepers, including recordings made with a first speaker who has since passed on.

[robinpronto]

Being Métis

The past few months have had me reflecting on what it is to be Métis, to me...

Most of my life I only knew it meant I was half Cree Indian and half French. And I had no idea what it was to be Cree or French. Adopted as an infant, it wasn't until I found my biological mother on facebook that I had any real desire to learn about my cultural heritage, nevermind practice. Any of it. Cree. French. Métis. Scandinavian (although this was unknown until recently - I only knew my father was caucasian with blonde hair and blue eyes, which I didn't at all identify with, looking in the mirror).

Growing up in suburban southern Alberta through the 80s and 90s, the attitudes towards 'indians' and francophones weren't so positive, which of course didn't encourage me and quite likely contributed to some self-loathing. I never experienced any racism directly, that I know of... however I often was privy to racist remarks and jokes about others of Indigenous and French heritage, and why would I want to identify with that? ...even though, subconsciously, I did.

As a young adult in the late 90s and early 2000s I held membership with the Métis Nation of Alberta, and even attended a youth entrepreneurship conference... however that changed with the new National Definition of Métis for Citizenship in 2003 and new MNA membership card in 2006... Without any information on family history, I could no longer 'officially' claim to be Métis. Labels like "non-status indian" and "pretendian" were among those that remained... and so I continued to ignore my heritage until facebook connected me with my mother.

Over the last five years, in addition to my mother, sisters, and nephews, I have met all my living aunties and uncles, many cousins, and my moshum, who has since passed. I have also reclaimed 'official' membership with the Métis Nation of Alberta as of 2021 and in 2023 attended both Métis Fest and Connecting Through Culture Métis Family Retreat at Métis Crossing with my children, and a number of other gatherings and events since. Further, I've learned that a number of my ancestors played important roles in Canada's history - like Cuthbert Grant (1793 ~ 1894) and Pierre Parenteau (1817 ~ 1893), among others. I have also learned that I have a significant amount of Scottish Métis ancestry on my mother's side, and that my father's ancestry allegedly connects us as descendants of Leif Erikson and Erik the Red, but the latter is a topic for another time.

So what is it to be Métis? Speaking Michif? Wearing a sash? Playing a fiddle? Canoeing? Hunting and trapping? Dancing the jig? There certainly was a time when these were all a regular part of daily life for generations of my ancestors, however I do not believe it was these things that defined who they were (and we are now), but rather it is the core Métis values:

Community, Networking, and Kinship - respect for elders, regular family gatherings, music and dance, sharing (especially food); wâkôhtowin - kinship, particularly one's relationship with, and responsibilities within, the communities and networks of which one is a part.

Traditional Storytelling - history and moral lessons were communicated through stories, rooted in spirituality and traditional indigenous cosmologies.

Mobility and Adaptability - traditionally semi-nomadic, following the reproductive and ripening cycles of flora and fauna (seasonal gardens, bison hunting, berry picking, trapping, fishing), and well-known for their adaptability, producing almost everything they needed to survive.

Resilience - the Métis people have repeatedly resisted colonial expansion and fought for their rights as a nation for over two hundred years. And that fight continues; otipemisiwâk - the people who own themselves.

The Métis were (and still are) people who lived in the spaces between what was and what is; we are from two very different worlds and often facilitated trade and connections between first nations and settlers. We belong to both groups and neither. We are a new nation of people, born of colonization. From both the old world and the new, yet belonging to neither.

From an evolutionary perspective, we are the product of human genetics that evolved separately for a very long time, bringing expanded variations and possibilities to human expression, not seen or even possible before... and from this perspective there are many new nations in the world today. I have truly been blessed with bougie heirloom DNA drawn from at least four separate cultures aged separately, resulting in an interesting blend of... me. 😂 And with all the personal archaeology I've done of late, I have some first-hand experience around the nature-nurture debate - a significant part of who I am as a person is literally in my bones (and they're both important).

To me, being Métis is all of this. It is to be here on the frontier of human existence. It is to inherit all that came before, and to utilize it in ways that work for who we are now and where we're going, while still honouring and respecting the wisdom in the knowledge entrusted to us... It is to boldly claim one's place in the world and to honour the relationships and responsibilities that go with it. And it is knowing that we are, truly, all related. ♾️

[naturesfallengrace]

sohkeyimitowin (solidarity)

Kohkum scarves were originally a symbol of solidarity between plains Cree and Ukrainian settlers; echoed in the bond between my Michif grandmother and Ukranian/Russian grandfather. I have been wanting to make this for the past year, but just got around to finishing it now. Thank you @lisaoiwa for helping me sew the clean lines, the rest is just done by hand. This will be visiting many rallies, the first one was tonight. Until Palestine is free. 🇵🇸

[piizunn]

let's meet at the confluence (2024)

The New Gallery's Billboard 208

January 27th - June 30th, 2024

let’s meet at the confluence is a suggestion to all Calgarians to consider the site where the Elbow flows into the Bow river and question how settler-colonial history is privileged in public and site specific art. The piece references the different histories of gathering at the confluence of the waters, histories that long predate Calgary, Alberta. Despite histories of Indigenous uses of the land, queer cruising, sex work, trade, the arrival of the railway, and the North West Mounted Police, the site of the confluence is often overlooked and rarely used as the great meeting place that it once was. The simple map and text invites an audience of all backgrounds, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, to make their way from the The New Gallery along the Bow river to the confluence viewpoint and to consider their proximity to one another. The text is in English and the word confluence is repeated in multiple languages including Blackfoot, Cantonese, and Cree to honour the artist’s Michif roots and the specific location of the billboard on Treaty 7 and in Chinatown, pointing to the history of many different people living along the rivers.

[this-is-my-main-i-follow-from]

I GOT MY METIS IDENTIFICATION IN THE MAIL LET'S GO BESTIES

[bumblehaven]

An acrylic work in progress for my final series of works for class. Loosely based off one of my allegorical spirit characters, Solarjod, whose form mimics that of a moth-winged wolf. In my spiritual fantasy realm, his domain is closely tied to the golden period during late summer and early fall where a vivid variety of plants, like sunflowers, grow best. There are records of this spirit being treated not unlike a harvest deity, though that classification doesn't fit him quite right.

If you have toyhou.se, you can check out Solarjod's profile over here.

[noesqape]

stuff i've made for him

[cedar-maw]

Any Métis out there got recommendations for books on southern michif? Just looking for more information and resources I can use to study on my own time. Maarsii!