1 gee meeyo pimawtshinawn / It Was a Good Life

A project by Russell Fayant and Brenna Pacholko,

SUNTEP (Saskatchewan Urban Native Teacher Education Program, Gabriel Dumont Institute)

Expanding our understanding of the Métisand the history of Métis communities through conversations with Old Ones about their lives and their experiences was the focus of Russell Fayant and Brenna Pacholko’s collaborative living heritage project. The project, which shared memories of Métis “road allowance” communities, was designed as a booklet made by SUNTEP students who retold the stories of older Métis community members. Three goals were in focus for this project: working with Kristin Catherwood and Heritage Saskatchewan; collaborating between a history course and a visual art course at SUNTEP; and connecting with the Michif community. As most students of the SUNTEP program are in teacher preparation, Russel and Brenna wanted to give students a rich experience that would have a lasting impact on them, in terms of their Métis heritage. Though “living heritage” and “intangible cultural heritage” are commonly used in settler society vernacular, Russell said that, “In terms of a Michif pedagogy, we would just call this visiting, to be honest with you, visiting knowledge, kitchen table knowledge.”

Russell explained that the stories of road allowance people are not well known, nor written about in a first person perspective. They wanted these stories to survive and to record the stories from the people who lived on the road allowance who are now in their later years of life. Brenna and Russell came up with the idea of engaging students and community members in order to publish a book about the experiences of the Old Ones.

Kristin, Brenna, and Russell worked with the students to understand how ethical oral research is conducted in a respectful way. Students were taught how to develop lasting relationships with the Old Ones in their community in order to avoid “harvesting” information from them for the purpose of the project, instead of creating lasting relationships with them. Both Brenna and Russell stressed the importance of relationship building as the paramount goal of this project and for the students to learn lessons they could apply in their careers and lives for years to come. Russell noted how many researchers gather information in Indigenous communities without any intention of building relationships with those who shared their knowledge and how these research practices do not benefit the Indigenous communities.

Brenna discussed how visual art is an individual experience that people should feel comfortable exploring ways stories can be told through art. Connections to Métis artists were made through the project where students were able to ask questions to well-known artists such as Sherry Farrell Racette who passed on knowledge to the students about storytelling representation through art. Due to the success and excitement surrounding this project, other projects related to community building through storytelling and story preservation through living heritage were able to be conducted. An example of a subsequent project was the building of a road allowance house that SUNTEP students brought to life through a collaboration with other SUNTEP professors and community members. Many of the storytellers were happy to share their stories of the road allowance, however, they did not think these memories would ever be used at the university level. This project demonstrates the value of community knowledge and the impact sharing that knowledge can have on those involved.

The booklet can be purchased or downloaded through the Gabriel Dumont Institute.