The True Canadians

The Métis do not experience poorer health than non-Indigenous communities because of their cultural practices or ethnicity. On the contrary, the Métis emerged from a vibrant, active history seeded in the fur trade and buffalo hunt. Rather, the trend toward a higher prevalence of illnesses among Métis is rooted in the intergenerational trauma that has resulted from systemic racism, oppressive and exclusionary colonial policies, and horrific assimilation. In 2013, a first-of-its-kind report noted that diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, respiratory disease, and stroke are especially common among Métis.

As she explains to host David Wylynko in this episode, guest Reagan Bartel has set out to reverse these trends. In her capacity as Director of Health for the Otipemisiwak Métis Government, Bartel is working to address the unique health challenges of the Métis in Alberta through advocacy efforts and the development of health-related programs and services. She focuses on partnerships that ensure Métis people are included in health policy and planning, and on addressing anti-Indigenous racism in health services. Bartel is excited and hopeful for the future of Métis health, and the creation of Métis health authorities that would allow for Métis owned and operated health clinics.

Resources

The high cost of housing is a challenge for most Canadians. But it can be particularly difficult for the Métis, many of whom can’t draw on the support that a long family history of home ownership can provide. Others grew up without the benefit of access to quality housing whatsoever. It’s a problem that extends back to the “road allowance” days, when Métis were forced off their land and forced to live in areas set aside for future road construction. Building a sense of community can only do so much if you don’t have a comfortable place to live.

But today, the Otipemisiwak Metis Government — the government of the Métis Nation within Alberta — is providing safe, adequate, and suitable housing through mortgage assistance, subsidies, affordable rent, and other programs. Two agencies administer the programs: Métis Capital and Métis Urban Housing. In this episode, Violet LaPratt, tenant relations officer for the Métis Urban Housing Corporation, tells host David Wylynko about the opportunities available for those requiring assistance. They also explore Violet’s own living situation growing up, how important the Métis homeland in Alberta has been to her family, and the value of pride in home ownership.

Resources

North America’s bison, once numbering in the millions, were facing extinction due to European colonialism, commercial hunting, government policy, and industrialization. At their lowest point, only a few hundred remained. We may never see the enormous herds that blackened the Prairies again, but there is one place where you can witness these majestic animals up close, amidst efforts to restore their populations and celebrate their historical significance: the “Visions, Hopes, and Dreams at Métis Crossing Wildlife Park.” Sitting on the northern shore of the North Saskatchewan River about a one-hour drive northeast of Edmonton, Métis Crossing has become a renowned Indigenous tourism destination, known for the bison and many other wondrous attributes. 

In this episode, host David Wylynko discusses the cultural importance, reintroduction, and intriguing behaviour of the bison with two people who were instrumental in bringing them back: Métis Crossing CEO Juanita Marois and rancher Len Hrehorets. They also talk about how the bison have become an important example of fostering reconciliation between the Métis and the rest of the country.

Notes

Métis Crossing

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

Civilization is going to need to burn fossil fuels for a little while longer. The only real questions are how much longer — and how to make the transition to renewable power. Overseeing the contribution that the Métis Nation of Alberta will make to that transition is Andres Filella. Born and raised in Ecuador, Filella moved to Edmonton for a degree in chemical engineering and then worked on greenhouse gas emissions in the oil and gas sector before switching to the Otipemisiwak Métis Government, where he now leads a 20-member Environment and Climate Team. Their biggest project so far is the Salay Prayzaan Solar Farm at Métis Crossing, which had its opening celebration and ribbon-cutting ceremony in June of 2024. The name means “gift from the sun” in Michif. The 5 megawatts of electricity it generates is enough to power 1,200 homes, making it the largest Indigenous-run solar solar installation in Canada.

In this episode of The True Canadians, Filella explains to host David Wylynko how he and his team are applying the Indigenous concept of “askiy” — Cree for “interconnected Earth” — to tackling climate change and other environmental challenges. Turns out there’s a significant difference between askiy and conventional Western approaches to the relationship between humans and nature.

More information

“If somebody that’s been trained four times how to use an AK-47 is a couple of hundred yards from you, and they are trying to shoot you, you get shot.” Not exactly what a young NATO peacekeeper wants to hear. But like countless Métis who have found themselves in the middle of wars over the centuries, retired Sgt. Chuck Isaacs has learned a few things as a member of the Canadian Forces.

Métis fought in the American Revolutionary War and the US Civil War. They did their duty in the Balkans and Afghanistan, and in every major war in between. By all accounts, Métis and other Indigenous Canadians are over-represented in Canada’s roll call of veterans. There’s even a separate Remembrance Day for them: November 8. But their record of service is rarely acknowledged by the broader public. As president of the Aboriginal Veterans Society of Alberta and the Métis Veterans Council of Alberta, Isaacs would like to change that. In this episode of The True Canadians, he explains what it would take to make that happen, and shares some of his experiences as one of those NATO peacekeepers who helped rebuild what used to be Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Notes

Rarely does a Métis gathering occur that doesn’t involve fiddle music. From kitchen parties to large community gatherings to huge events like Métis Fest in Alberta or Back to Batoche Days in Saskatchewan, fiddling is never far from the festivities. Many fiddlers learn at a very young age, like the students at Prince Charles School in Edmonton, who are featured in the book The True Canadians.

In this episode, host David Wylynko talks with two highly sought-after Métis fiddlers in Alberta. Alex Kusturok not only plays regularly at venues throughout Alberta and elsewhere but has just come off co-composing the first-ever Metis opera, Li Keur: Riel’s Heart of the North. And he just released his album Wedged in Tradition. Growing up listening to family members play the fiddle, Brianna Lizotte took up the instrument at a very young age and has cultivated a unique approach to her music that fuses jazz, bluegrass, country, and Métis traditions. Alex and Brianna are such highly regarded musicians that they were chosen to join Canada’s Métis delegation to the Vatican in 2022 and perform before Pope Francis, a remarkable experience they each describe in this episode.

Mentioned in this episode

The True Canadians website

Brianna and Alex playing in Vatican City

Brianna performing at the 2019 Canada Winter Games

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

Long before “economic development” became a popular catchphrase, the Métis had mastered the entrepreneurial spirit. Hundreds of years ago, the Métis were instrumental in establishing the fur trade and opening up vital transportation corridors across North America’s lands and waters. They nurtured what later became known the world over as Canada’s vibrant natural resource economy.

In this episode, host David Wylynko talks with Métis elder Paul Bercier about the connection between the Métis’ approach to prosperity and their strong belief in an inherent right to self-determination, self-government, and independence. Today, that resolve is driving the Métis to seek an ownership stake in the Trans Mountain Pipeline, which Bercier describes as “the project of all projects.”

The pipeline’s expansion line came online in early May. With the advent of a “green hydrogen” economy on the horizon, Bercier foresees the pipeline eventually becoming a key component of an environmentally sustainable energy strategy for the future, for both the Métis and Canada as a whole.

Notes

Paul Bercier biography

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

Canada prides itself on its tourism destinations. We’re known the world over for such landmarks as the CN Tower, Green Gables Heritage Place, and Whistler, BC. But one of the country’s most prized tourism destination may now be Métis Crossing, located on the shores of the North Saskatchewan River a short drive northeast of Edmonton, Alberta within the historic Victoria Settlement. Condé Nast Traveler magazine named this unique cultural site one of the top 22 tourist attractions in the world.

In a 2021 article, the magazine heralded the location’s 40-room guest lodge, Indigenous-led stargazing program, and cross-country ski trails. Visitors can paddle a voyageur canoe up the river to Victoria Settlement and visit a wildlife park that is home to a new free-roaming herd of bison, as well as elk and Percheron horses.

On a breezy afternoon overlooking the river, host David Wylynko spoke with Juanita Marois, the CEO of Métis Crossing, about why the project is a source of so much pride for the Métis, and how it is coming to represent not only a place of reconciliation and sustainability, but what she calls the phenomenon of regenerative tourism.

Notes

Metis Crossing

A 5-Day Road Trip Through Indigenous Alberta, Conde Nast Traveler, Dec. 3, 2021

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

A generation ago, the typical Métis citizen who wanted to pursue higher learning or attend college or university had almost nowhere to turn for financial support, even though Métis leaders since Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont have embraced the power of education to lift their people. Even those who managed to graduate from high school often went no further because the cost of higher education was a barrier to the Métis people. Things have a come long way since then, thanks in no small part to the Rupertsland Institute Métis Centre of Excellence. To learn more about the importance of education, host David Wylynko speaks in this episode with the founder of the Rupertsland Institute. 

Lorne Gladu understands the value of an education as much as anyone, having been raised in a “one-room shack” at the Fishing Lake Métis Settlement, and delaying his post-secondary education until he was 36 years old due to the lack of suitable funding. Today, Lorne is an Indspire laureate and the recipient of three honorary doctorates while he continues to serve the Métis Nation through the Rupertsland Institute and the Métis Education Foundation. These publicly funded entities provide millions of dollars in financial support to Métis students and help make it easier for Métis students to get through their post-secondary education, with many going as far as professional studies and PhD programs. Lorne notes that, due to colonial policies suppressing the Métis Nation, Métis citizens are one to two generations behind mainstream populations. But now, Métis citizens have the opportunity to pursue excellence in their education and career choices and can proudly give back to the community.

Notes

The Rupertsland Institute

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

Cassidy Caron, President of the Métis National Council, grew up with a passion for Métis culture, history, and politics in equal measures. Raised in an area of British Columbia with limited exposure to Métis communities, but with a deep family heritage in Batoche, Saskatchewan — famous for the Métis resistance led by Louis Riel in 1885 — Caron entered the political realm at a very early age. By the time she was 24, Caron was serving as the Minister of Youth for the Métis Nation of British Columbia. In 2021, when she was just 29, Caron took the huge step of running for the MNC presidency, fittingly journeying to her family’s roots of Saskatchewan for a General Assembly, where she became the first woman ever elected to that role. Audrey Poitras, now retired as the President of the Métis Nation of Alberta, had served as interim president from 2003 to 2004. 

In her wide-ranging discussion with host David Wylynko, Caron discusses her Métis heritage, her election, negotiating agreements on behalf of the Métis with political representatives of Canada at the highest levels, and major accomplishments in the short span of her tenure. One of the biggest challenges Caron is embracing currently is passage of federal legislation, Bill C-53, affirming Métis self-governing rights in Alberta, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. The Bill delivers on commitments made in self-government recognition and implementation agreements that were co-developed and signed in 2023. These agreements formally recognize that Métis governments in these provinces possess an inherent right to self-government as recognized in the Constitution Act of 1982. They also discuss bridging lingering divisions among Métis, the legacy of Métis leaders from Riel to Jim Sinclair, and Caron’s thoughtful agenda for the future.

Resources

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