Festival fosters Metis unity and pride

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The Batoche National Historic Site perches over the South Saskatchewan River amid gently rolling hills and scattered copses of trees, the beauty of its location providing a notable contrast to memories of the bloody conflict it played host to well over a century past. Though best known as a primary battleground of the Northwest Rebellion, Batoche also stands as a monument to Metis settlements long disappeared, and a culture and way of life seldom remembered. What better site, then, for the acclaimed and always anticipated Back to Batoche festival, which attracts thousands of visitors annually to its celebration of Metis heritage and traditions?

The festival, held this year from July 26 to 29, features a vast range of activities and performances for both young and old, and provides an opportunity for Metis from across North America to gather, socialize, and take pride in their unique, rich history.

"It's a celebration of the past, and what we are," said Lorraine Burroughs of Alberta. "Its important that these people come and see because a lot of times we get mixed up with being First Nation, and we feel left out. Here, we really find out where we're at as Metis, and what it's all about. We're getting our heritage where it belongs, and our culture and beliefs, which is really good because a person has to know what they are to feel good about themselves."

"Once a year we get together at Batoche to celebrate the past," agreed John Leclair of Saskatchewan. "Something that was told to me a long time ago by an Elder was, 'You'll never know where you're going until you know where you came from.' This is where we came from."

To foster these feelings of pride and belonging, many events at the festival focus on long-held Metis traditions.

"There's a lot of things going on - in the pavilion there are old time fiddling competitions, vocal talent contests, in the big tent is the Batoche musical," Leclair pointed out. "There's a lot of pride that comes out of that. The music and the dance are the most important parts of our culture."

"There are a lot of people," noted Lorne Borth of British Columbia, a first time attendee very impressed by the range of activities, and enthralled by the Batoche stage musical.

"We celebrate our culture through music, through dance, through just being here and eating our dinner on the ground," explained Leclair. "It's important that we model that kind of behavior for our young people. This is our culture, this is who we are.

"I personally just believe in having some harmony," he continued. "I'm really, really sick of all the infighting that's going on within Aboriginal culture, within the Metis Nations in Saskatchewan and Alberta, and within our Metis locals in the province. None of this nonsense is doing anything to foster any kind of harmony or unity among our people, and that's really what it's got to come down to. We've got to get away from that close-minded clan mentality and realize that we're all one people."

Such a laudable goal will not be reached easily, but events such as Back to Batoche, that bring together Metis from far and wide in a spirit of celebration, will certainly help foster the unity that Leclair, and so many of his fellow people, so dearly desire.