I am announcing it, I have decided to write a book (woohoo). This book is going to engage what it is like to be a Metis person in the City, kind of like Sex in the City (but much less sex....trust me). Very little is known about the Metis people of Canada even though their is piles of literature on the mixed group of rabble rousers (I say this with a polite smirk and an intentional sarcasm).
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| My ancestors The Great "Cyprien Morin" & Marie Adele Cook |
I listened to a new Billy Joel song I had never heard and it was entitled "The Angry Young Man" and as I listened the lyrics resonated with me because in my entrance to University I was this angry young man. However, through years of hopeful maturity I have become patient, understanding, researched and humbled to be in a position to practice my culture openly and with the greatest of pride because I am so darn proud of my Metis identity, my family, our history of defending our rights and our role in building this country.
This did not come easy, and in reading the Globe and Mail account of Fred Sasakamoose and tearing up from his story, I realize just how important it is I continue to be this voice, so that the story of our people can be told accurately, correctly and with the truth in tact. My ancestors fought hard for us to maintain our identity and rights and even though we are still misunderstood, forgotten, treated with indifference, shoved aside in the overall discussion of Indigenous rights or frankly mistrusted (as our colonial history and fake hollywood movies have taught us); I know the truth, it has been told to me my my family, it has been researched when as a young man I spent countless hours learning my ancestry, understanding the stories and sifting through census and church records.
The Book will discuss my life navigating the slippery scope of identity. Reflecting on experiences in my life that were hard and challenging, I have never given up and I don't intend to, but I want young Metis people to know that the future is bright - actually all my Indigenous relatives to know that if you work your ass off, stay away from the negative bullshit and surround yourself in culture that you will make it out of this colonial wasteland that has us buried in quick sand.
In the great words of Charlie Day "People always tell you to do what makes you Happy, but a lot of this has been hard work and I'm not always happy. Instead do what makes you great and never fear failing because without failure what is success anyways".So here it is Metis Moment Number #1 (My First Sweat): it was in the summer and I was a young undergrad, I had known a lot about sweats, but had never participated. I went out to the Qu'Appelle Valley and the Elder and Helpers were preparing the Lodge. I was informed to go by a work colleague because I was at a huge crossroads in life and needed answers & clarity. Normally I would turn to smudging, but this was larger because it was a path changer. As I entered the sweat in each round I thought about my loved ones, the community and finally the Elder told me to think about myself. The day was a dry plus 35, so it was very hot in the Lodge and as I sat there listening to the music and feeling the heat push on my back with every drop of water that hit the stones, I dove deep into my subconscious, deeper then I had ever gone before. As I exited the lodge, sweat dripping everywhere, exhausted from the heat, I laid down on my towel with a very large headache and stared at the sky and in that moment I found clarity and it would change the course of my life.
Till the next moment,
Roy Pogo
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