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A traditional land use study is underway across southeastern Saskatchewan through the M茅tis Nation of Saskatchewan.听
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Co-Chair of the Traditional Land-Use study, Dexter Mondor, says the study is to determine how deep M茅tis roots run in southeast Saskatchewan.
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He explains that the current generation of Elders are growing older and he believes that it is important to capture their knowledge on the region while there is still time to do so.
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鈥淲e are doing this so we can discover the broadness of the M茅tis footprint in the Eastern Region III which is the eastern corner of our province. We鈥檙e also partnered with Parks Canada through the Motherwell Homestead in the Qu鈥橝ppelle Valley. We have received a grant from them and also funding through the M茅tis Nation Saskatchewan to do this traditional land-use study,鈥� Mondor said.
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Mondor notes that the rapid expansion of resource development is disturbing and could be impacting traditional land use by the M茅tis people.
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He explained that the first phase of the study involves interviewing Elders in the area and allowing them to share their stories and history.
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鈥淲e鈥檙e interviewing elders, knowledge keepers, and older people in the community. There are lots of them in the Qu鈥橝ppelle Valley which is home to lots of M茅tis people and we鈥檙e just learning the history and more defining the history, things like where settlements used to be, where people used to live, who they used to work for. Back in the 鈥�30s 鈥�40s and 鈥�50s M茅tis people were largely farmers. We鈥檙e learning all that and we鈥檙e collecting that data and compiling it in one form so we can have access to it.鈥�
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Mondor says X-Terra has been hired to help them compile the information.
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X-Terra is an indigenous-owned company located in Saskatchewan that specializes in environmental impact assessments.
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鈥淲e hired a company called X-Terra and they do story mapping. Once we鈥檝e collected all our data and we鈥檙e happy with our presentation, that story mapping part will become the data that we can share with the public.
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鈥淲e have working group meetings every week and we鈥檝e identified locations within our group as to where we want X-Terra to go out and do research.听
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鈥淭hey work with lots of industries and all types of groups to map land and do research studies and things like that. What we鈥檙e doing is our in-house person is interviewing people that are recommended or singled out.
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鈥淪he鈥檚 doing all these interviews which are tough during COVID-19. So there are phone interviews, questionnaires going out and a form going out.鈥�
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The interview mail-out package supplies information about the study. There will also be a short questionnaire and a list of interview questions the individual can pick from.听
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Maps will also be provided to help the individuals label and identify M茅tis settlements, homesteads, and so forth. Consent forms will be attached that are required to be signed for participation.
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Mondor explains that when the study is complete, the information will be compiled into an interactive map that will help share the history of the M茅tis people in the area.
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He says they are doing this to help share their heritage and history before it is lost.
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鈥淵ou can click on a dot on the map and it will come up with a bunch of information but then there might also be a person who might have used to live there or had family there and they will share their story through our interview.听
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鈥淭he M茅tis have always been in Saskatchewan when they moved out from the Red River settlement out of Winnipeg and into three or four key areas in Saskatchewan. But in the 鈥�30s and 鈥�40s, they were dispersed because the government forced them to leave and changed things. Now we鈥檙e wanting to reconnect with that history and we realize that some of these knowledge keepers or elders who are passing on and haven鈥檛 shared their stories, that stuff is lost forever.鈥�
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Mondor says passing along the information of the Elders is important to the M茅tis community.
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In the M茅tis community, Elder is a word that is used for those who are knowledgeable. Elders often hold respect in the M茅tis community and serve the community by educating others about practices, family traditions, and oral histories as well as contemporary methods.听
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But the M茅tis Nation of Saskatchewan is wanting to take this history preserved by the Elders and make it available to everyone who wants to learn of their history and heritage.
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Any M茅tis citizens who want to take part in the study or have history to share can email [email protected]
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