Métis Stories
Métis Week in November celebrates the heritage, history and contributions of Métis people to Canada with events held across the province. For more, visit the Métis Nation of Alberta website or the Métis Nation of Alberta Facebook page.
"Métis" : race, recognition, and the struggle for indigenous peoplehood
Andersen, Chris, 1973- author
2014
Buffalo Is the new buffalo
Vowel, Chelsea, author
2022
Powerful stories of "Métis futurism" that envision a world without violence, capitalism, and colonization. "Education is the new buffalo" is a metaphor widely used among Indigenous peoples in Canada to signify the importance of education to their survival and ability to support themselves, as once Plains nations supported themselves as buffalo peoples. The assumption is that many of the pre-Contact ways of living are forever gone, so adaptation is necessary. But Chelsea Vowel asks, "Instead of accepting that the buffalo, and our ancestral ways, will never come back, what if we simply ensure that they do?" Inspired by classic and contemporary speculative fiction, Buffalo Is the New Buffalo explores science fiction tropes through a Métis lens: a Two-Spirit rougarou (shapeshifter) in the nineteenth century tries to solve a murder in her community and joins the nêhiyaw-pwat (Iron Confederacy) in order to successfully stop Canadian colonial expansion into the West. A Métis man is gored by a radioactive bison, gaining super strength, but losing the ability to be remembered by anyone not related to him by blood. Nanites babble to babies in Cree, virtual reality teaches transformation, foxes take human form and wreak havoc on hearts, buffalo roam free, and beings grapple with the thorny problem of healing from colonialism. Indigenous futurisms seek to discover the impact of colonization, remove its psychological baggage, and recover ancestral traditions. These eight short stories of "Métis futurism" explore Indigenous existence and resistance through the specific lens of being Métis. Expansive and eye-opening, Buffalo Is the New Buffalo rewrites our shared history in provocative and exciting ways.
Empire of wild
Dimaline, Cherie, 1975- author
2019
Broken-hearted Joan has been searching for her husband, Victor, for almost a year--ever since he went missing on the night they had their first serious argument. One terrible, hungover morning in a Walmart parking lot in a little town near Georgian Bay, she is drawn to a revival tent where the local Métis have been flocking to hear a charismatic preacher named Eugene Wolff. By the time she staggers into the tent, the service is over. But as she is about to leave, she hears an unmistakable voice. She turns, and there Victor is. The same face, the same eyes, the same hands. But his hair is short and he's wearing a suit and he doesn't recognize her at all. No, he insists, she's the one suffering a delusion: he's the Reverend Wolff and his only mission is to bring his people to Jesus. Except that, as Joan soon discovers, that's not all the enigmatic Wolff is doing.
A girl called Echo omnibus
Vermette, Katherena, 1977- author
2023
"Métis teenager Echo Desjardins is struggling to adjust to a new school and a new home. When an ordinary history class turns extraordinary, Echo is pulled into a time-travelling adventure. Follow Echo as she experiences pivotal events from Métis history and imagines what the future might hold. This omnibus edition includes all four volumes in the A Girl Called Echo series: In Pemmican Wars, Echo finds herself transported to the prairies of 1814. She witnesses a bison hunt, visits a Métis camp, and travels the fur-trade routes. Experience the perilous era of the Pemmican Wars and the events that lead to the Battle of Seven Oaks. In Red River Resistance, we join Echo on the banks of the Red River in the summer of 1869. Canadian surveyors have arrived and Métis families, who have lived there for generations, are losing their land. As the Resistance takes hold, Echo fears for the future of her people in Red River. In Northwest Resistance, Echo travels to 1885. The bison are gone and settlers from the East are arriving in droves. The Métis face starvation and uncertainty as both their survival and traditional way of life are threatened. The Canadian government has ignored their petitions, but hope rises with the return of Louis Riel. In Road Allowance Era, Echo returns to 1885. Louis Riel is standing trial, and the government has not fulfilled its promise of land for the Métis. Burnt out of their home in Ste. Madeleine, Echo's people make their way to Rooster Town, a shanty community on the southwest edges of Winnipeg. In this final instalment, Echo is reminded of the strength and perseverance of the Métis. This special omnibus edition of Katherena Vermette's best-selling series features an all-new foreword by Chantal Fiola (Returning to Ceremony: Spirituality in Manitoba Métis Communities), a historical timeline, and an essay about Métis being and belonging by Brenda Macdougall (Contours of a People: Métis Family, Mobility, and History)."-- Provided by publisher.
A grandmother begins the story
Porter, Michelle 1975-, author
2023
"Five generations of Métis women argue, dance, struggle, laugh, love, and tell the stories that will sing their family, and perhaps the land itself, into healing in this brilliantly original debut novel. Carter is a young mother, recently separated. She is curious, angry, and on a quest to find out what the heritage she only learned of in her teens means. Allie is trying to make up for the lost years with her first born, and to protect Carter from the hurt she herself suffered from her own mother. Lucie wants the granddaughter she's never met to help her join her ancestors in the Afterlife. Genevieve is determined to conquer her demons before the fire inside burns her up, with the help of the sister she lost but has never been without. Mame, in the Afterlife, knows that all these stories began with her, and that she must hold on to the tellings until all her daughters and their daughters find the paths they need to be on. This extraordinary novel, told by a chorus of distinctive, sharp, funny, confused, wise characters that include the descendants of the bison that once freely roamed the land, heralds the arrival of a stunning new voice in literary fiction."--Provided by publisher.
I don't like bugs! = J'aime paa lii bibiits!
Desjarlais, Edgar Danny, 1952- author
2016
Summer gerings days and evenings to glory outdoors. It also brings bugs. In this amusing illustrated story, a young boy and gilr and their dog try to savour the season despite the irritating intrusion of a gang of insects.
Lights along the river
Skene, Pat, 1945-, author
2024
In this illustrated picture book set in 1952, a young Métis girl anticipates the arrival of electricity in her small town.
Metis and the medicine line : creating a border and dividing a people
Hogue, Michel, 1974- author
2015
Métis like me
Hilderman, Tasha, author
2024
"A picture book celebrating Métis culture."-- Provided by publisher.
A Métis man's dream : from traplines to tugboats in Canada's North
Gower, Neil (Canadian), author
2023
Gordon Gill is a gentle, hard-working Métis man whose journey began on his Iroquois-Cree grandfather’s trapline and evolved into a successful business career. His story is one of change and the passing of not just one, but several eras in the development of Canada’s North and the evolution of the Indigenous struggle. A Métis Man's Dream: From Traplines to Tugboats in Canada's North details the history he met, and made, along the way.
Métis rising : living our present through the power of our past
2022
Métis Rising draws on a remarkable cross-section of perspectives to tell the histories, stories, and dreams of people from varied backgrounds, demonstrating that there is no single Métis experience - only a common sense of belonging and a commitment to justice. The contributors to this unique collection, most of whom are Métis themselves, examine often-neglected aspects of Métis existence in Canada. They trace a turbulent course, illustrating how Métis leaders were born out of the need to address abhorrent social and economic disparities following the Métis-Canadian war of 1885. They talk about the long and arduous journey to rebuild the Métis nation from a once marginalized and defeated people; their accounts ranging from personal reflections on identity to tales of advocacy against poverty and poor housing. And they address the indictment of the jurisdictional gap whereby neither federal nor provincial governments would accept governance responsibility towards Métis people. Métis Rising is an extraordinary work that exemplifies how contemporary Métis identity has been forged by social, economic, and political concerns into a force to be reckoned with.
The Northwest is our mother : the story of Louis Riel's people, the Métis nation
Teillet, Jean 1953-, author
2019
There is a missing chapter in the narrative of Canada's Indigenous peoples—the story of the Métis Nation, a new Indigenous people descended from both First Nations and Europeans. Their story begins in the last decade of the eighteenth century in the Canadian North-West. Within twenty years the Métis proclaimed themselves a nation and won their first battle. Within forty years they were famous throughout North America for their military skills, their nomadic life and their buffalo hunts. The Métis Nation didn't just drift slowly into the Canadian consciousness in the early 1800s; it burst onto the scene fully formed.
Prairie edge : a novel
Kerr, Conor, author
2024
"One night, Métis cousins Ezzy and Grey hatch a plan to capture a herd of bison from a nearby national park and release the animals in downtown Edmonton. They want to be seen, to be heard, and to disrupt the settler routines of the city, yet they have no idea what awaits them or what the fateful consequences of their actions will be. Balancing wit and sorrow with satire, social commentary, and whip-smart storytelling, Prairie Edge explores the radical possibility that a couple of inspired miscreants might actually have the power to make a difference"-- Provided by publisher.
Real ones : a novel
Vermette, Katherena, 1977- author
2024
Lyn and her sister, June, are NDNs--real ones. Lyn is still suffering after a break-up, but has her pottery artwork and her bubbly kid, Willow, to keep her mind, heart, and hands busy. Happily married June, a Métis Studies professor, yearns to uproot from Vancouver and move. With her husband, Sigh, and their faithful pup, June decides to buy a house in the last place on earth she'd imagine she'd end up: back home in Winnipeg. Close to Lyn, her dad, little sister Yoyo, Grandma Genie--close to family. But then into Lyn and June's busy lives a bomb drops: their estranged and very white mother, Renee, is called out as a “pretendian.” Under the name (get this) Raven Bearclaw, Renee had recently begun to top the charts in the Canadian painting scene for having a wholly new take on the Woodlands tradition, winning awards and recognition for her fraudulent work. The news is quickly picked up by the media and sparks an enraged online backlash. As the sisters are pulled into the painful tangle of lies their mother has told and the hurt she has caused, searing memories from their unresolved childhood trauma, which still manages to spill into their well curated adult worlds, come rippling to the surface."-- Provided by publisher.
The Riel problem : Canada, the Métis, and a resistant hero
Braz, Albert, 1957- author.
2024
"Tracing Louis Riel’s metamorphosis from traitor to Canadian hero, Braz argues that, through his writing, Riel resists his portrayal as both a Canadian patriot and a pan-Indigenous leader. After being hanged for high treason by the Canadian state in 1885, the Métis politician, poet, and mystic has emerged as a quintessential Canadian champion. The Riel Problem maps this representational shift by examining a series of watershed cultural and scholarly commemorations of Riel since 1967, from a large-scale opera about his life, through the publication of his extant writings, to statues erected in his honour. Braz also probes how aspects of Riel’s life and writing can be problematic for many contemporary Métis artists, scholars, and civic leaders. Analyzing representations of Riel in light of his own writings, the author exposes both the constructedness of the Canadian nation-state and the magnitude of the current historical revisionism when dealing with Riel."-- Provided by publisher.
Stories of Métis women : tales my Kookum told me
Oster, Bailey, author, editor
2021
"This book is a collection of stories about culture, history, and nationhood as told by Métis women. In this era of reconciliation, Stories of Métis Women explains the story of the Métis Nation from a their own perspective. The UN has declared this "The Decade of Indigenous Languages" and Stories of Métis Women is one of the few books available in English and Michif, which is an endangered language."
Swiftly flowing waters : a memoir : a Métis woman's story of resilience, reflection, and reclamation
Skene, Pat, 1945- author
2024
"Describes the life of the author and her experiences growing up as a Metis woman, highlights personal experiences, personal history and life's highs and lows."-- Provided by publisher
We learn from the Sun
Bouchard, David, 1952- author
2020
'We Learn from the Sun' is an Indigenous rhyming poem with colourful illustrations about the seven sacred teachings that can be learned from the sun. This richly illustrated book by Metis writer David Bouchard and Metis illustrator Kristy Cameron, weaves together Woodland style paintings with a rhythmic poem about the spiritual lessons that we can learn from the Sun and the seven sacred teachings.