Local Metis Artists Share Stories from Community Amid Attacks

Metis artists gathered at Penetanguishene’s Centennial Museum for a Tea & Talk event, where things quickly turned political due to attacks that have been aimed at the Metis Nation of Ontario by the Chiefs of Ontario and the Manitoba Metis Federation.

“Part of the problem is that the First Nation chiefs and the Metis from Western Canada, really have no idea of who we are and where we came from,” says Tim Cote, artist and Metis rights activist. “Most of them say, everybody came west, nobody went east. Well, that's wrong.”

The Penetang Petition of 1840, part of the history Tim Cote is referring to, is listed in the Louis Riel Institute’s list and records of Metis Petitions.

To commemorate the Metis community in the area, Cote is working on an event for the 100th anniversary of the Migration from Drummond Island, but he would love to see something more permanent be brought to the area.

“I would like to see a monument done in Penetanguishene. We've got Champlain here. We've got to do one for our ancestors,” says Cote.

Many Metis artists who are featured in The Gifts of Georgian Bay Exhibit at the Museum came forward to not only speak about their work but also defend where they come from.

“I've been doing beadwork since 1974,” says Joe Jesseau, whose work has been identified by Lorraine McRae of Rama First Nation, as a style of beadwork that is over 200 years old.

The Gifts of Georgian Bay Exhibit will be at the Penetanguishene Museum until September 5th.