Metis Creation Story[1]
Let me tell you a story that starts with that Turtle, busy
swimming across the waters, and the First Peoples and who lived on that big
steady back. Littles and bigs. Flyers and swimmers. The slow ones and the fast
ones – All the Relations – had their spots around the bowl. And all feasted and
celebrated and mourned together. Now there were times the bowl was less full
than others but overall, there was abundance. This was because of the Great
Laws. Now there are many names to those respect teachings among the Circle Peoples
but all knew they were equal around the bowl even when sometimes a relation
needed a helping hand or paw to fill their bellies. But the Great Laws had ways
to ensure that all were still part of the Feast.
After a long long time, the relations heard voices very far
away. The Grandmothers sent out some of the flying ones to investigate. They reported
that there were new two legged ones climbing up Turtles leg. The Old ones took
council and prepared to greet these arrivals. At the feast, over stories and
songs, the relations learned that some of the new Turtle travelers carried circle
teachings from their places. These folks learned the bowl rules and joined in
relationship with the community. This is how it always was. The Great Laws are
adaptable. Welcoming and adopting folks who could work together to care for the
bowl. That’s what the Grandparents
teach. When we have enough we share and when we don’t we adapt. These new ones
became the Metis.
These new peoples were woven from the threads of the Great
Laws and the Circle peoples caught up in Empire. We are the descendants of
those who left or who were driven out of Europe for economic, political and
religious reasons. Where sheep were given land and the people were starved. We
are the descendants of Black Grandparents brought to Turtle Island as slaves or
who travelled here as free folk. We are the descendants of the Chinese workers
brought to tame Turtle Island with railways. We are the descendants of Sikh men
who came to work the woods. We are resilience and adaptation just as our
Ancestors showed us.
After more
time, the relations heard noises far away. The Grandmothers sent out some of
the swimming ones to investigate who reported that more unknown two legged ones
were climbing up Turtles leg. The Old ones again took council before preparing
to greet these arrivals. But these new
arrivals passed the Grandmothers and went straight to the bowl - even before
the proper greetings – even before telling us about their people! They reached
hands, still dusty from travel right into the feast. The Grandmothers explained
the rules but some still didn’t listen. Some didn’t like the rules. They
had other rules – better rules. Written down on paper rules. Rules in strange
symbols that they trust more than relationships. But while we kept explaining
how the bowl worked and who all the relations are – and why they matter, well
something happened to the bowl itself. Less was going in, more was going out
and lots of relatives were going hungry. Some weren’t able to get close enough
to eat and some were trampled or forgotten.
Data Bear thinks that Metis folks are questions. That our
very bodies carry those questions. Questions about who got remembered. Questions
about assimilation. Questions about who get counted. But maybe our bodies also
hold some answers. Maybe we can carve lobsticks to show possible paths? In the
current moment, data is king. But this Bear thinks it is a false leader since
it can often only show us paths of binary (0 or 1). But Metis folks, we are ∞
and we are circles. We are the people of the shared bowl who together with our
First Nations and Inuit family and are part of the mending, setting things back
to right and the care for those who have been hungry a long time. We are about
remembering our shared histories of abundance. Ho
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