Proud to be Metis

My Great Grandmother Odille Allard (nee Beaudoin) was a nun.
After given birth to 14 children and losing her husband, the Catholic Archbishop grated my GGrandmother permission to become a nun in the cloistered order of the Sisters Precious Blood in Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan. It sounds crazy but it happened.
I knew her well. As a child, I often went to the Precious Blood to purchase sheets of hosts, sheets from which hosts are cut for communion. My friends and I loved the taste of this flat bread.
The only way I ever saw my GGrandmother was through grilled barriers. The monastery was cloistered. It was she who introduced me to the idea that we were Metis,  Her smooth, round fingers would reach through the squares, touch my cheeks and she would say,  "Mon beau petit Metis!" "My sweet Metis boy!". Her mother was Jeanne Beaudoin, nee Charbonneau, buried in Kranzburg, South Dakota. I have been to grave site, offered tobacco and together with my daughter Victoria, honoured her with a song on our flutes.. Jeanne Beaudoin’s parents were Pierre Charbonneau, Ojibway and Josette Bonneterre, Osage. Of this there is no question. We have every document proving here they lived, where they were married and where they died. I know their names. I know their Nations. I am of them. I am Metis. And be clear in this; I didn't seek them out for personal gain or for membership in a Metis organization. I simply wanted to know. 
And the voyage I took in getting to know them was amazing!  Expensive but worth it. Years to achieve but worth it.

My voyage went like this.
Twenty years ago, I went to our local Metis Nation of Victoria. There, I was introduced to Stan Hulme, a wonderful man and the volunteer genealogist who helped the MNGV. Stan did some research for me and came up with he thought would qualify me for citizenship in the British Columbia Metis Nation. It didn't. The BCMN needed more. Citizenship requires direct, legal documents for every link leading to Native ancestors. 
So, I put the name of my GGrandmother, Odille Allard out on the internet asking if anyone knew her. I received a reply from Don Presser Jr., an accountant in Alaska. Don was her great nephew. Don then kindly sent me a document showing that our mutual ancestor was an Algonquin woman who appears twice on the Quebec census as Marie Louise Manitokoo (Savage), Don suggested I contact a professional genealogist in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I did and Kris Matthers began what was going to be years of research. 
Kris found legal documents for each step of my ancestry. The process is timely and costly as the time it takes to find death/birth/marriage/baptismal certificates is expensive. Churches burn. Government offices close. 
After seven years, Kris had taken me back five generations.
My GGrandmother was Metis. Her mother, Jeanne Beaudoin, nee Charbonneau, was proven to be the daughter of Ojibway Pierre Charbonneau and Osage Josette Bonneterre. In today’s ruling on status, Jeanne Beaudoin would not have been Metis, having two First Nation parents, she would have been First Nations. Her daughter, my GGrandmother would not have been Metis, she would have been First Nations. 
Back then, Metis people did not want First Nation status, in fact they tried to conceal their bloodline and to fit into mainstream society. The ramifications of the North West Resistance and the open racism toward Indigenous people had them hide. My GGrandfather Narcisse Beaudoin's tombstone reads Nelson Bowdwine. He changed his name to try to be English. He likely couldn't pronounce it. 
Victoria, me, my mother Cecile and my Grandfather Pierre MercierThe next and final stage was to ask Kris to plot out a trip that Vicki, Victoria and I would make. 
We flew to Winnipeg, rented a car and drove to Kranzburg, South Dakota. There, we found the resting place of my GGGrandmother, Jeanne Beaudoin/nee Charbonneau. Victoria and I offered tobacco and played our honour song for her. 
We then drove across the Northern US, the same trip that our ancestors made, back to Bay Settlement in Wisconsin. As Kris predicted, we were unable to find Pierre Charbonneau or Josette Bonneterre's resting places but we did find the church where they were married. We visited the towns and churches that Kris suggested we visit, that included the church where Odille was married.
Enough already. I could obviously go on and on and I love speaking of them. Let me share a couple pieces that speak to my journey and the pride I have in my ancestors and in my being Metis.