Metis culture the focus of new education tool

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The Metis: Our People, Our Story CD-ROM was released on Sept. 1 during the Prince Albert Metis Fall Festival by the Gabriel Dumont Institute (GDI) of Saskatoon.

"It has been quite some time in the making," said Darren Prefontaine, curriculum development officer at GDI.

The release of the CD-ROM comes in conjunction with the 20th anniversary of the Gabriel Dumont Institute.

"We timed it well in that sense because this has most certainly been our most thorough project," said Prefontaine. "It is the project we have worked on the longest. It has involved an incredible amount of work both by ourselves and others."

The development has been a joint initiative between GDI, Arnold Publishing, and the Department of Canadian Heritage since 1995. Numerous contract workers from Labrador to British Columbia, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, contributed to the making of the CD-ROM.

"It's quite comprehensive, We hired over the course of making the CD maybe 15 to 20 different people to write essays, contribute photos, write maps and so on," said Prefontaine. "It's pretty thorough."

The CD provides a view of Metis history and culture by covering community, social, economic, and political life. In doing so the CD utilizes hundreds of visual images, biographies, video clips, music bites, and digital maps and charts.

"We break Metis history down into its several components in the CD," said Prefontaine. "We had people who were anthropologists, archaeologists, historians, and Elders. It was important to get all these diverse views because there is no one voice or perspective you can take on Metis history. It's a very diverse, eclectic combination."

GDI hopes that the CD will be widely used throughout post-secondary schools, institutes, and within Native studies programs to encourage knowledge of Metis history.

"The focus is almost always on the first peoples in Native studies programs," said Prefontaine. "So we hope to spur students to study Metis history, as well as the First Nations history, because the Metis people have a fascinating history and have contributed to Canada's development."

The CD-ROM can be used by both Macintosh and Windows 95 users and is available for $69.

"GDI is very proud of this piece of work," said Prefontaine.

The Gabriel Dumont Institute trains and educates the Metis people of Saskatchewan for future roles in self-government. Campuses in Prince Albert, Regina, and Saskatoon are affiliated with the universities of Regina and Saskatchewan.

"We are the educational training arm for the Metis people in Saskatchewan," said Prefontaine. "The projects we produce are always geared toward teaching and training in regards to the Metis people and history."

GDI continues to promote Metis culture through research materials development, collections and distributions of cultural Metis materials, as well as through the development and delivery of Metis-specific educational programs and services.

"Our next major project will be to revamp our college and expand it so students can obtain four-year bachelor of arts and go on and do post graduate work," said Prefontaine. "One day we hope to see a lot of Metis trained masters of arts and PhDs go through GDI and then staff the institute. We try to train our graduates and find employment for them. That is our next major project."

GDI is currently working on developing a video series on the Michif language.