Métis people will not be forgotten anymore.
That was the message from Raye St. Denys, president of Metis Local #492, on Heritage Day Monday in Red Deer.
“Métis people historically have been the forgotten people, the invisible people and the road allowance people and we’re not that and we will not be forgotten,” she said.
St. Denys was celebrating Métis culture on Heritage Day along with hundreds of Central Albertans at Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery.
“When the term Aboriginal started being used, they forgot that meant First Nations, and Métis and Inuit, and now people are getting used to Indigenous – they forget even more,” she said.
The museum put on the Monday event “Welcome to Red Deer: Métis Celebration” with family friendly crafts and games for children, tours of the current exhibit The Writing on the Wall: Works of Dr. Joane Cardinal-Schubert, with live fiddle music by Brianna Lizotte and her father Brian, a jigging lesson, and some bannock.
Kim Verrier, Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery coordinator of visitor experience, said the museum decided to focus on Métis culture on Heritage Day this year.
“We know in Tail Creek which is close to here had the largest Métis settlement of over 2,000 members prior to any European settlers coming to this area,” said Verrier.
The museum has celebrated other cultures such as Country and Western culture and Canada 150 on Heritage Days in the past years.
Heritage Day gives people the opportunity to celebrate regional, provincial and national traditions and culture, said Verrier.
“We have such diverse stories of different communities and groups moving in over time and this (day) highlights those stories that makes up Red Deer today,” she said.
The museum is also getting ready to host “Hiding in Plain Sight: Discovering the Métis Nation in the Archival Records of Library and Archives Canada” in December.
For the exhibit, the museum has been exploring Métis culture and stories in the Red Deer area.
“We know some stories but we’re trying to get more stories of modern Métis culture as well,” said Verrier.
More than 135 people had walking in through the museum doors halfway through the event, which was scheduled from 1 to 4 p.m.
mamta.lulla@reddeeradvocate.com
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