Louis Riel's great-grandniece Jean Teillet continues to speak out about Métis legacy and recognition
CBC Radio | Posted: May 1, 2020 4:29 PM | Last Updated: May 1, 2020
Jean Teillet is a lawyer, Métis expert and the great-grandniece of Louis Riel. Her book, The North-West is Our Mother, is a history of the Métis Nation.
It begins in the early 1800s, when the Métis became known as fierce nomadic hunters, and continues to the late 19th-century resistance led by Riel to reclaim the land stolen from them, all the way to present day as they fight for reconciliation and decolonization.
Teillet spoke with Shelagh Rogers about writing The North-West is Our Mother.
Papers of note
"My direct family had a collection of Louis Riel papers. I took them to 'show and tell' when I was in Grade 4 and 5. When I started to write the book, I was home in Winnipeg. And I said to my mom, 'Do you still have those papers? Because I haven't looked at them for 40 years.'
My direct family had a collection of Louis Riel papers. I took them to 'show and tell' when I was in Grade 4 and 5.
"I pulled them down, and I started taking pictures of them with my phone. Sure enough, there were a couple of really lovely pieces in there — some of them are nothing — but some of them were very interesting.
"I said to my mom, 'Do you think that other cousins have papers?' I sent out an email blast and one of them turned out to have nine boxes of papers."
Ghosts of my ancestors
"These papers are not all written by Riel. It's also my grandfathers' papers. They were involved in writing the only other version of the Métis Nations history that was actually written by the Métis themselves. That was a book that was published in 1935 but began in 1909. My grandfather was a big part of writing that book.
"It took us three days to take pictures of all of the papers and documents and little pamphlets and all these things that he had collected. Some of them were fascinating.
"It was amazing to look at those because when you first look at them, you don't really know what you're looking at. You don't have any context for them — but a lot of it appears to be early drafts and notes about that first book. That was fascinating.
It's like ghosts walking around you because it's my grandfather and it's my great-grandfather.
"One of them was a big old ledger that was big and heavy. When you opened it up, the pages spilled out because the binding glue was not functioning anymore.
"It was quite a journey and it felt like him. It's like ghosts walking around you because it's my grandfather and it's my great-grandfather. You're looking at this writing and it just feels beautiful."
Important origins
"There's certainly mixed marriages between the fur traders with Indigenous women before the 1790s. But it's that generation — those born in the 1790s — that creates the critical mass necessary to start a new group. Up until then people have created these mixed marriages and they're having children. They sort of takeover and there are enough of them that they create everything that goes on around them.
They identified themselves back in those days as the 'Bois-Brûlés' — different name but same people.
"They banded together. They identified themselves back in those days as the 'Bois-Brûlés' — different name but same people. They were strong enough and enough numbers and savvy enough to start taking control — and to identify a new group and everybody saw it. Around the 1810s, that's when the Métis really comes into.
"They are forming a new language. They're creating their own culture and it's because there's enough of them to do it."
The Riel legacy
"It wasn't my idea to write this book. My publisher came to me and asked me to write it. But I said yes instantly. Part of that was because I'm uniquely placed to tell this big story.
"Part of it is my own family history. Part of it is the fact that I have been an Indigenous rights lawyer and I've done all these Métis rights trials. Each one of these trials takes the local history and puts Canadian history on trial. Even before I started researching for this book, I read hundreds of thousands of documents. I've interviewed over 200 Métis — some of the elders who are long gone now — and I'm sitting on family papers that are not generally available to the public.
"The stories are running through me and coming at me from a lot of different places. I think that put me in a unique situation to be able to write this book.
Riel is a massive figure in Canadian history. He's got this absolute magnetism about him.
"Riel is a massive figure in Canadian history. He's got this absolute magnetism about him. It has obscured his people. It also doesn't help that a lot of people mistakenly say that, because he went to study to be a priest in Quebec, that he was more French. I don't think that's true at all.
"Riel was fundamentally a Métis child in that he was raised that way in Red River — and he always identified himself that way.
"It's an odd quirk of our Canadian history, but I think of Louis Riel as a comet that comes across the sky and it obscures everything else. It's part of not just Métis history but Canadian history."
Jean Teillet's comments have been edited for length and clarity.