I have a few thoughts on manufactured indigeneity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I grew up thinking I was Indigenous. Or more particularly, that I was part Indigenous. I was taught that I was M\u00e9tis, and that meant part French and part Cree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
I was proud of my Indigenous heritage, despite the fact that my family (immediate and extended) did nothing to celebrate that heritage. I knew nothing about the M\u00e9tis people and nothing about Cree people, outside of what I was taught in school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We never attended a pow wow. No relative I knew could speak Cree. And I had never visited a Cree reserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite a lack of exposure to Indigenous culture and community, I still considered myself Cree. When I registered for Grade 11 at a new high school after we moved provinces, I even self identified as \u201cnon-status\u201d on the application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Actually, on that note, at one point, all the self-identified Indigenous students at my high school were called into an all-day assembly, where we learned about Indigenous culture and discussed Indigenous issues. For introductions, the facilitators went around the circle, asking each of us to introduce ourselves, what band we came from, and which ancestors were Indigenous (I wasn\u2019t the only white-looking person there). When it was my turn, since I didn\u2019t know which ancestor was Indigenous, I just said \u201cgrandparents\u201d, and I just said \u201cWoodland Cree\u201d for the band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The problem, however, is that I\u2019m not actually Indigenous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The family belief that we were M\u00e9tis was based on a myth. Despite my mum and several of her family members apparently having what they called \u201cM\u00e9tis cards\u201d, we weren\u2019t M\u00e9tis. In fact, we have no proof whatsoever that we have any Indigenous ancestors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I tried registering with the M\u00e9tis Nation of Alberta about 15 years ago, that\u2019s when things started to unravel for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s when I discovered that there\u2019s more to being M\u00e9tis than being part First Nations and part European. The M\u00e9tis people are a group of people with a distinct culture and history. To register with the M\u00e9tis Nation of Alberta at the time meant that you had to prove lineage to the original M\u00e9tis settlements of the Red River area. Since my family were from Saskatchewan and had immigrated there directly from Qu\u00e9bec, I had no connection to Red River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was devastated. As a European mutt, I was looking forward to having an ethnicity I could identify with. After I got over the disappointment, however, I redirected my indigeneity to my supposed Cree ancestry. If I wasn\u2019t technically M\u00e9tis, at least I was still Cree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, there\u2019s no proof that I\u2019m Cree either. Not even a little bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are no treaty records and no scrip records. None of the birth, marriage, or death records I\u2019ve accessed over the last 30 years show proof of indigeneity. Heck, even my own DNA results show 0% First Nations\/Native American DNA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why was I so desperate to be Indigenous?<\/p>\n\n\n\n