Métis Talks
Métis Talks is a semi-annual public event highlighting Métis specific research, art and culture. Presentations are held twice a year: in the Fall and in the Spring.
SPRING 2023
June 23, 2023, 12:00 pm–3:00 pm
Come celebrate the arrival of our new Red River Cart on the front lawn of Pembina Hall, University of Alberta. With fiddle music from Zach Willier, and presentations from Bernie Ouellette, and the Rupertsland Institute.
RSVP
Fall 2021
Featuring Bailey Oster, Marilyn Lizee, and Dr. Cheryl Troupe
Presentations by Bailey Oster and Marilyn Lizee authors of the new book Stories of Métis Women: Tales My Kookum Told Me and Dr. Cheryl Troupe Re/Storying Métis Road Allowance Communities.
Spring 2021
Featuring Reagan Bartel with Dr. Maria Ospina
Misi Yehewin (Big Breath): Understanding COVID-19 experiences among Métis in Alberta
Reagan Bartel earned her Master of Public Health and Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Alberta. She has 16 years of critical care nursing experience delivering front-line care in an Edmonton ICU before moving into population health as the Director of Health for the Métis Nation of Alberta (MNA). She is a daughter, granddaughter, wife, and Auntie. She is a proud Métis woman, descending from the line of Ignace Poitras Sr. on her father’s side and Irish settlers on her mother’s. Her focus is on ensuring that the Métis stories, experiences, and perceptions gifted to the MNA are incorporated into health advocacy, policy, programs, and services. She values leadership, culture, community, growth and transparency in her life and work.
Dr. Maria Ospina is an assistant professor with the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, a clinical epidemiologist, and population health researcher. She is a Canada Research Chair in Life Course, Social Environments and Health and member of the Women and Children’s Health Research Institute. Dr. Ospina’s program of research involves epidemiological studies and mixed-methods approaches to examine early-life influences on long-term health and the role of social and environmental determinants on maternal, perinatal and child health outcomes. Her work is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, PolicyWise for Children and Families, the Lung Association, the Alberta Health Services Strategic Clinical Network, and through the generous supporters of the Lois Hospital for Women through the Women and Children’s Health Research Institute.
Fall 2020
In Collaboration with the Gabriel Dumont Institute
Dr. Allyson Stevenson with David Morin
Presentations: From rehabilitating Métis families to removing Métis Children: The Long Sixties Scoop in Saskatchewan (Dr. Allyson Stevenson) and Michif Language Revitalization (David Morin)Dr. Allyson Stevenson is a Métis Assistant Professor in the Department of Indigenous Studies and the Gabriel Dumont Institute Research Chair in Métis Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. She received her MA and PhD in History from the University of Saskatchewan. She is an adoptee from Kinistino, Sk raised in Regina. Her research focuses on the Sixties Scoop and the emergence of the Adopt Indian and Métis program.
Her book, Intimate Integration: A History of the Sixties Scoop and the Colonization of Indigenous Kinship is forthcoming November 2020 with University of Toronto Press. She has published articles on the Sixties Scoop, Indigenous Women’s political activism, and histories of Métis resilience and resistance.
David Morin has been a curriculum developer with the Gabriel Dumont Institute for over 17 years. He has a Bachelor of Education and a Masters in Educational Technology and Design. His work at GDI includes the design of books, websites, and technology, most of which preserve, promote, and revitalize Michif.
Spring 2020
Gregory Scofield with Dr. Tricia Logan
Presentations: Our Grandmothers’ Hands: Repatriating Métis Material Art (Gregory Scofield) and Métis Experiences and Histories at Residential Schools (Tricia Logan)
Gregory Scofield is Michif of Cree, Scottish and European-Immigrant descent whose ancestry can be traced to the Métis community of Kinosota, Manitoba and to Bacon Ridge, a former Métis Road Allowance Community that is now part of Ebb & Flow First Nation. Scofield won the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize in 1994 for his debut collection, The Gathering: Stones for the Medicine Wheel, and has since published seven further volumes of poetry including, Witness, I am. He is also the recipient of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012), and most recently the Writers' Trust of Canada Latner Poetry Prize (2016) that is awarded to a mid-career poet in recognition of a remarkable body of work. Gregory's first memoir Thunder Through My Veins (Doubleday Canada/Anchor Books) was re-published Fall 2019. Further to writing and teaching, Gregory is also a skilled bead-worker, and he creates in the medium of traditional Métis arts. He continues to assemble a collection of mid to late 19th century Cree-Métis artifacts, which are used as learning and teaching pieces.
Tricia Logan is the head of Research and Engagement at the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at UBC in Vancouver. Tricia is a Métis scholar with more than 18 years of experience working with Indigenous communities in Canada. She has held roles at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and the Legacy of Hope Foundation. She completed her PhD in History at Royal Holloway, University of London. Tricia has worked with survivors of residential schools, completed research on the Métis experience in residential schools, and worked with Métis communities on language revitalization.
Fall 2019
Jean Teillet and Dr. Adam Gaudry
The Story of Louis Riel's People, the Métis Nation
Jean Teillet is a senior Counsel with Pape Salter Teillet LLP specializing in Indigenous rights law. Jean was a founder of the Métis Nation of Ontario and the National Aboriginal Moot. She sits on the Canadian Judicial Council Chairperson's Advisory Group and the Indigenous Bar Association Ethics Committee. She is Vice Chair of Indspire and is on advisory boards for The Charter Project, Windsor Law School and Journal of Law & Equity, University of Toronto.
Adam Gaudry, Ph.D, is an associate Professor and Associate Dean (Research & Graduate Studies) in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta. He is currently writing a book on nineteenth-century Métis political thought and the Métis-Canada and is co-leading a large collaborative and community-driven research partnership to build a Teetł'it Gwich'in bush school in Teetł'it Zheh, NWT.
Spring 2019
MJ Belcourt and Katherine Boyer
Melissa-Jo Belcourt (MJ) comes from a rich Métis ancestry and possesses a wealth of cultural skills, acquired from Métis and First Nation Elders and Knowledge Holders throughout northern and central Alberta. Her passion lies in her cultural heritage where she continues to research to find better understanding of the ancestral legacy she follows.
Katherine Boyer is a Métis artist and Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba, School of Art. Her art and research is entrenched in Métis history, material culture, and personal family narratives. Through the experience of long, slow, and considerate laborious processes, she contemplates the use of her own Métis body as a conduit for building upon ancestor relations and exploring notions of a mixed cultural identity.