Höre Paykiiwikay

On this final episode of Paykiiwikay - Season 1, we travel to the thriving Metis community of Ile-a-la-Crosse, the heartland of the Northern Michif dialect, to meet with the man who has arguably done more than any other to revitalize Northern Michif as a living language. This year Vincent Ahenakew is retiring as the Principal of the Rossignol High School where, for decades, he spearheaded efforts to bring Michif into the school curriculum. He was so successful, that having passed a course in Michif is now a requirement to graduate, and Michif can be heard in the hallways, classrooms and read in text-books, many of which Ahenakew translated himself. He also literally wrote the book on Northern Michif, as the creator of the Michif/Cree Dictionary: Nêhiyawêwin Masinahiķan, published with the Gabriel Dumont Institute. You can also hear his voice on the “Northern Michif To Go” language App that he helped develop. We hope you enjoy this episode with one of the great Metis educators. Host Leah Dorion and producer David McGuffin would like to thank their colleagues at the Metis Nation Saskatchewan and Canadian Geographic for making this season possible. And they also want to thank our guests for their wonderful telling of the story of the Metis people, and to you, our listeners, for making this podcast a success. It is now a featured series on Apple Podcasts Indigenous Voices category. Mína ka wapamitin! See you in Season 2!

"Métis people, we use a lot of colour in our beadwork. We're very colourful people as it is, and so we infuse that into our artwork. We're known as the flower-beadwork people because all of our clothing traditionally was very heavily adorned with these very beautiful, intricate flower patterns." Amy Briley, a leading Metis traditional beadwork and sewing expert, is our guest on this episode of Paykiiwikay. She and Leah talk about the history and traditions of Metis beadwork, of one of the defining aspects of Métis culture. Amy discusses her own Métis heritage and how she came to be an author and leading educator on Métis sewing traditions through her work at the Gabriel Dumont Institute. She recalls working on her first pair of moccasins, the art of choosing the right moosehide, how to get started in beadwork and why this craft is vitally important to keep alive. Links to learn more: WÂPIKWANIY: A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO MÉTIS FLORAL BEADWORK by Amy Briley, Sherry Farrell Racette and Scofield https://gdins.org/product/wapikwaniy-a-beginners-guide-to-metis-floral-beadwork/ Video: Our Shared Inheritance - Traditional Métis Beadwork. Gabriel Dumont Institute. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GcmH7wnK3c Paykiiwikay is produced by David McGuffin of Explore Podcast Productions in Ottawa. Our opening theme music is by Adam Daigneault. The closing theme is by Leah Marie Dorion.

On this episode of Paykiiwikay, we're joined by award winning Métis educator, Cort Dogniez. He is an active leader in the revival of the Michif language for urban Métis in his hometown of Saskatoon and beyond. A teacher with decades of experience in Indigenous education, he is currently the Métis Education Program Leader based at St. Michael’s Elementary School in Saskatoon. There he developed and helps guide the groundbreaking core Michif program for young learners that was launched in 2019. A descendant of the Dumont family, Cort has a deep knowledge of Métis history, including little understood areas like our role in the Treaty process, as you’ll hear in the interview. He is also an author of an ongoing series of Métis history books for young readers. The First book in that series, "Road to La Prairie Ronde," is available through the Gabriel Dumont Institute Press. Paykiiyikay is a production of the Metis Nation Saskatchewan and Canadian Geographic, produced by David McGuffin of Explore Podcast Productions in Ottawa. Our theme music, Buffalo Gals, is by Métis fiddler and musician, Adam Daigneault.

Métis elder Joanna Potyondi traces her roots back to one of the first Michif leaders, Cuthbert Grant, the hero of a crucible moment in the birth of the Metis people, the Battle of Seven Oaks in 1816. And she has Grant's shotgun to prove it. Now in her 80's, Grandma Joe was raised in Roche Percée, Southern Saskatchewan, by her grandparents who were born in the midst of the Métis Resistance of the 1880's. She has lived her life steeped in the rich heritage of Métis horse culture that grew out of the years of the buffalo hunt and has dedicated her life to sharing the stories and traditions of Saskatchewan’s Qu’Appelle Valley with the generations that have followed.

In this episode, award-winning Métis musician Adam Daigneault talks about his love of traditional Métis fiddle music, his influences and mentors in northern Saskatchewan, the centuries long history of the fiddle in the northwest and its importance to Métis people. Adam is also the fiddler who plays the Paykiiwikay theme song, Buffalo Gals. He tells us about the Red River origins of this classic Michif song.