In 2021, 2.8 per cent of Canada’s farm population was Indigenous – First Nations, Métis or Inuit. It’s a sliver of a sliver of Canadians, and yet it’s more than 21 per cent higher than 25 years ago.

In a period when the overall number of farmers declined by nearly 40 per cent, it’s a comparative boom. Statistics Canada points to several possible causes.

Why it matters: Those with Indigenous heritage are increasingly self-identifying on StatCan agriculture surveys, especially Métis farmers.

It could be that greater numbers of Indigenous people are choosing agricultural careers. In a growing movement for food sovereignty, Indigenous communities have set up farms and food-related programs that could contribute to this number. For instance, Peguis First Nation in Manitoba grows produce through its Smart Farm.

StatCan also said in a 2016 article that the relatively rapid expansion of the Indigenous population is spilling into the agricultural sphere. However, it noted more people are newly identifying themselves as Indigenous, a trend it said is continuing.

While there’s growth among First Nations, Métis and Inuit farmers, the Métis make up the vast majority of the total. The Co-operator asked whether more Métis farmers are claiming their heritage. The answer proved there can be a lot behind one small statistic.

A caveat and history

There’s an important distinction to be made between self-identifying as Métis and being formally recognized as part of the Métis Nation.

This past summer, then-Manitoba cabinet minister Kevin Klein took fire for claiming Métis heritage when the Manitoba Métis Federation said he hadn’t met their criteria for Métis citizenship, CBC reported in July.

Klein said he belongs to the Painted Feather Woodland Métis, which CBC reported is a for-profit company based in Ontario.

“The MMF ensures all our citizens are of historic Red River Métis ancestry confirmed though official genealogy, and are distinct from other Aboriginal peoples,” an MMF spokesperson told the Co-operator.

In conversations with Daniel Benoit and William Benoit, Métis brothers who do historical research work with the federal government, it became clear that the Red River Métis (of whom the MMF is the national government) have detailed genealogical records and familial knowledge.

The Benoits, for instance, trace their lineage back to the Lagimodiere family, one of the nation’s seminal families.

A Métis person isn’t simply someone of mixed Indigenous and European heritage, although the word originally referred to their “mixed” ethnicity. They’re a distinct people with a distinct history tracing back to the early fur trade in North America, when the voyageurs travelled far into the interior of what’s now Canada to source furs for Europe.

Marriages between voyageurs and Indigenous women “in the fashion of the country,” besides providing love and companionship, built familial ties and trade relationships between the fur-traders and First Nations, wrote Jean Teillet in The North-West is Our Mother.

Many of the North West Company men lost their jobs when their employer merged with the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821. Many of these, called the Freemen, moved to the Red River with their Indigenous wives and children.

The Freemen originally lived with their wives’ communities, but slowly began to live independently. They formed hunting brigades with other Freemen families, whose children intermarried and formed large, extended family groups.

They began to see the northwest as theirs, and themselves as free traders.

“This is the fertile soil into which the Métis Nation was born,” wrote Teillet.

There is far more to the story, but suffice it to say that these groups formed the backbone of the Red River Métis nation, with a shared origin, culture, language (Michif) and de facto military via the organized and disciplined buffalo hunters.

When Manitoba became a Canadian province in 1870, the Métis would have been the primary population in the area, the Benoits said. However, that was soon to change.

The reign of terror

When the water is low, near the baseball park in Winnipeg, you can still see the pilings from the old ferry dock. That’s where one of the Benoits’ ancestors, Elzear Goulet, was killed as he tried to escape an angry mob.

“It was an ugly time,” said Daniel Benoit.

In the latter half of the 19th century, Canada — until then, largely confined to the east — was encroaching into the northwest and had plans to annex it.

“The idea that there was such a thing as a collective Métis people … never entered their minds,” Teillet wrote.

The Métis, who were self-governing with established parishes, didn’t take this lying down.

In 1869, Louis Riel had risen to prominence, and led the Métis in resistance against the Canadians. Tensions boiled into armed conflict.

One of the people who died in this conflict was a Canadian named Thomas Scott whom the Métis tried and executed as a murderer and would-be assassin of Riel, Teillet wrote.

Scott became a quasi-martyr for the Canadians, who used his execution to whip up anti-Métis sentiment.

While armed resistance ended with the formation of Manitoba as a Canadian province in 1870, that anti-Métis sentiment stayed strong. Canada sent soldiers into the new province, among them men hell-bent on revenge for Scott’s death and other perceived crimes.

Teillet quoted one: “The pacification we want is extermination.”

To the Métis, the soldiers were an occupying force. Fearing for their safety, many families quietly left Red River. The people who stayed lived in increasing fear and chaos, and coined the term “Reign of Terror.”

Meanwhile, the bison herds so important to the Métis way of life had all but vanished. Canada was bringing settlers, such as the Mennonites, to farm the land.

“[The Métis] were also waiting, without much help from the distant federal government, for reassurance that title to their river-lot homesteads and farms would be guaranteed,” notes the Canadian Encyclopedia.

Métis attempts to protect their rights culminated in the North-West Resistance and the Battle of Batoche, which the Métis lost.

Six-year-old Rosie Darling summed up the consequences in an online video telling a kid’s version of the Métis people.

“So many things that they worked so hard to build were burned to the ground. Their children were the ‘Defeated Generation.’

“Their babies grew up in a world where being Métis was a really bad thing,” Darling explains. They were the “Shamed Generation,” who taught their kids to hide their Métis heritage. This led to generations who didn’t know their heritage.

Reclamation

Jason and Erin Boily own Iron Head Ranch, where they raise bison near Richer on land that’s been in Jason’s family for generations.

That they’re Métis is mentioned in the first few paragraphs on their website. Bison are integral to Métis culture, and the Boilys not only raise bison, but use them to support their community. The Manitoba Métis Federation’s bison herd is on their land, and they’ve also sold bison to the Métis government to be distributed to citizens.

Boily told the Co-operator his family wasn’t always so open about its background.

“It wasn’t something that was really spoken about,” he said. “Not that they were ashamed, they just kept everything very quiet.”

He had uncles and aunts who went to residential schools, he said. Hurt and past trauma made them reluctant to be identified as “half breeds.”

“It was easier to assimilate than it was to be proud.”

Erin, who grew up across the province in San Clara, had always been immersed in her Métis culture. When they met as young adults, Boily said her influence opened his eyes to who he was.

“By that point, at that age, I didn’t care who knew and what,” he said.

He began talking with his mother about their culture, and she opened to it also.

Rosie Darling said her mom’s generation, through detective work, found out who they were. They were the Found Generation, who taught their kids about their culture.

There are many reasons why two successive agriculture censuses have found more Indigenous farmers, but it’s possible that some are also part of this generation.

The post TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION: A ‘found generation’ of farmers appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Indigenous people and settlers gathered July 6 at Brenda Bohmer’s grain farm near Bawlf, Alta., to celebrate the opening of the Treaty Land Sharing Network in Alberta.

It marked expansion of the network from Saskatchewan into the western part of Treaty 6, also known as central Alberta.

“Many people, especially those of us who are settlers or who come from settler backgrounds, have benefited a lot from treaties, and now it’s time to make sure that we move in a more equitable direction,” said Bob Montgomery, a Métis hunter and master of ceremonies for the event, which attracted about 80 people to Bohmer’s 640-acre farm.

The land sharing network is a grassroots collective of farmers, ranchers and other landholders who have come together to honour treaties. Members provide access to their land for Métis and First Nations people to gather medicinal plants, hold ceremonies or hunt.

Bohmer is the first Albertan to join the network.

The day began with a pipe ceremony led by elders Bert Bull from Louis Bull Tribe and Alsena White from Saddle Lake Cree Nation. Bull sang a flag song as the Treaty Six flag was raised.

Bohmer, a third-generation farmer, talked about the location of her farm on traditional lands of the Saulteaux, Nakota Sioux, Dene, Blackfoot and Métis people.

“It’s so special for me to host this launch event for the Alberta Treaty Land Sharing Network,” she said.

She left the farm for 20 years but returned to full-time farming in 1997.

“It wasn’t until I started to think about my own retirement that my perspective started to shift. I began to realize and acknowledge the strong connection I have with the land, and land is sacred to me.

“It was a gift, and the land has provided a wonderful life and supported my family for three generations. Now I see myself as a landholder and a caretaker of the land.”

She learned about the network by reading an article in The Western Producer.

Amy Seesaquasis, from Beardy’s and Okemasis’ Cree nation in Saskatchewan, provided some network history. She was joined by Shirley Wolfe-Keller, a knowledge keeper from Muskowekan and Fishing Lake First Nations in Saskatchewan.

Seesaquasis talked about Indigenous nations as matriarchal societies destroyed by colonization. The land sharing network was built by a matriarchy.

“It was started by a collective of women and that’s important. It was started by settler women, who started the vision for this and reached community including myself and Kokum (grandmother) Shirley,” she said.

The network began in 2018 when Valerie Zink, who has ties to Regina and a farm east of Calgary, spoke to an Indigenous hunter from Peepeekisis Cree Nation in Saskatchewan about access to land for Indigenous people, said Seesaquasis.

Other women joined the conversations. When COVID-19 shut things down, the women including Zink, Martha Robbins, Emily Eaton, Mary Smillie, Naomi Beingessner and Hillary Aitken, reached out to Seesaquasis and they began meeting on Zoom.

All the settler women came from generations of farming and knew the land had once belonged to Indigenous people, said Seesaquasis. Their families had displaced Indigenous people, who lost access to traditional territories.

Seesaquasis said development of the network was fuelled by the shooting and killing of Colten Boushie, an Indigenous man from the Cree Red Pheasant Nation. In 2016, Boushie and several friends stopped on land owned by Gerard Stanley near Biggar, Sask. Boushie was shot and killed by Stanley, who went to trial in 2018 and was found not guilty by an all-white jury.

Seesaquasis said the decision in the Boushie case proved to Indigenous people that it was not safe for them to be on the land. The Saskatchewan government subsequently changed the rules about trespassing.

Zink said the settler women started meeting with individual farmers to talk about a treaty land sharing network.

“There was a lot of interest. We had more conversations among individual landowners to build an initial base to launch the network,” said Zink.

The women met with groups of Indigenous land users and connected with the Treaty 4 governance centre in Fort Qu’appelle, Sask.. They developed a relationship with the Anishinabe nation treaty authority and partnered with the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations.

In summer 2020, the women hosted a land sharing event on Mary Smillie’s farm near Bladworth, Sask. It was magical, said Seesaquasis.

In summer 2021, the network held an official launch and opened Smillie’s land to Indigenous people. There are now 57 landowners in the network in Saskatchewan, covering about 37,000 acres.

In fall 2021, the women who started the network met with a group from Alberta and several people joined the coordinating committee.

“It’s a first step towards treaty implementation,” said Zink. “It is something concrete that people can do beyond learning and conversing. Being a part of the network is a commitment to ongoing learning, education and challenging yourself. But I think there’s also a real desire to do something that has a real impact.”

Josh Littlechild, a hunter from Ermineskin Cree Nation, embraced the recent Alberta event.

“This is the type of reconciliation and action that’s required and needed to make this change that we want to see this country Canada become in this age of reconciliation,” he said. “And a part of my core memory is going to be watching reconciliation happen way out here in Bawlf.”

Doyle Wiebe, a fourth-generation farmer from Langham, Sask., and member of the network, said he grew up with little connection to Indigenous people and issues. As he became aware of the injustices, he read about the network. He knew Mary Smillie and her husband, Ian McCreary, and learned more from them.

“As far as posting the sign on one of my pieces of land, I think that’s the best way of meeting some of the things that Indigenous people might want to come on the land for, whether it’s hunting or gathering different type of plants for different reasons,” he said.

Allowing Indigenous people on his land allows him to acknowledge the wrongs done to Indigenous people, he added.

“Life is too short to let opportunities like this go by where we can acknowledge the wrongs of the past, to accept that there were wrongs that we are responsible for, not in the sense of we did the wrong, but that we’re responsible for making it right if we can.”

Signage now denotes Bohmer’s farm as part of the Alberta Land Treaty Land Sharing Network.

“This is the beginning of something, and the possibilities that it could lead to are important,” said Bohmer. “It’s a step towards reconciliation.”

-Updated Sept. 24, 2024. Corrects name of Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations.

The post TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION: Bawlf area farm first to join Treaty Land Sharing Network appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Many people haven’t learned the history of residential schools because it wasn’t part of school curricula until recently and was seldom talked about.

I’ve met many people who were angry when they first started learning about this history. I firmly believe knowledge is power, and by reading or listening to stories by Indigenous people, everyone can learn these histories and start to work toward reconciliation.

I’ve long had an interest in this area, so I would like to recommend some books I’ve read by Indigenous writers.

David A. Robertson is a member of the Swampy Cree Nation who now lives in Winnipeg.

In his memoir, Black Water, Robertson travels with his father, Don, back to the family trapline.

Don grew up on the trapline before he was taken to a residential school. In a personal, emotional memoir, Robertson learns about his father’s history and how it affected his own family life.

Robertson has also written several books for children, and his picture book When we were alone can be used to teach children about some of the impact of residential schools, in a tone appropriate for younger people. This book is beautifully illustrated by writer/illustrator Julie Flett, a Cree/Métis author.

For those who prefer to read fiction, I recommend Michelle Good’s debut novel Five Little Indians.

Good, who is of Cree ancestry, is a poet and lawyer and has spent part of her career advocating for residential school survivors. Five Little Indians follows five teenagers as they leave residential school and try to make their way in the world.

Some of the characters end up living in the bush, while others struggle on the streets of Vancouver. It is a powerful novel with fully realized characters who display how residential school has affected them. This book is a national bestseller, and a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, one of Canada’s biggest literary accolades.

They Called Me Number One is a memoir written by Chief Bev Sellars of the Xatsull First Nation.

Sellars recalls her years at St. Joseph’s Mission School in Williams Lake, B.C., and how she, her mother and her grandmother were all affected by attending residential schools.

The title describes a practice used at St. Joseph’s Mission School. Instead of being called by their names, the children were given numbers and Sellars was referred to as “number one.” In this book, she details the suffering she experienced and its impact on her mental health and family. She also outlines her own path to healing.

I have met people who feel overwhelmed when it comes to Indigenous issues, so if you want to learn some basics about Indigenous issues in Canada, I have two suggestions.

First, I recommend Chelsea Vowel’s first book Indigenous Writes.

Vowel is a Métis woman from the Lac Ste. Anne area in Alberta. Indigenous Writes is an excellent primer for understanding Indigenous issues in Canada. It’s written in plain language with a healthy dose of snark.

This book will change and challenge your assumptions about First Nations, Métis and Inuit issues, dispel myths and explain things in a way that is relatively easy to follow. Vowel explains things like “the Sixties Scoop,” “blood quantum” and how Indigenous people are taxed.

Thomas King’s The Inconvenient Indian is another book that examines what it means to be Indigenous in Canada.

King is a celebrated novelist, children’s writer and mystery writer of Cherokee and Greek descent. This book looks at the relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and delves into how Indigenous people are portrayed in pop culture.

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is just one day, but it is a call to action for everyone.

And for some, that action can start by picking up a book or two, reading, and learning more.

The post Opinion: The path to reconciliation can start by reading some good books appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.