I attended my first North Slave Metis Alliance (NSMA) annual general assembly last month. This was important to me because I did not grow up with my Metis culture or with my biological family. I was adopted at birth and I found my birth father, Bill Enge, the president of the NSMA in 2006.
When I met him, at the age of 26, I was given the gift of learning what it meant to be Metis. His position as a political leader and champion of Metis rights has given me a thorough education. I am grateful to be connected to my culture and I would like to share my story of reunion with my family and why I'm a proud Metis cultural ambassador.
First, let me share my personal journey of reuniting with with my family (also available on the Women Warriors podcast) and my re-education as an Indigenous adoptee learning my culture.
The first act that my biological mother committed on my behalf was to give me up for adoption. She tells me, when we were reunited 29 years later that her mother gave her an ultimatum, give me up for adoption or be cut off from all family support. It was 1980 and her family was wealthy, conservative, and white. Her mother disapproved of my Metis father and racism separated us.
Here begins my lifelong journey back to my ancestral homeland and culture.
I grew up in the agricultural community of Castor, Alta., population of 1,000, consisting of members of predominately European descent. My parents were of French and German descent, and we were raised in the Roman Catholic faith. I used to sneak into my parent’s filing cabinet and look at my adoption papers – Metis descent. What did that mean? I had no idea what a Metis was, and there was no cultural activities or education in my small community.
The questions surrounding my identity peaked after working and travelling around the world on board a cruise ship for a year and realizing the importance of knowing where you are from – your roots and heritage.
I stepped off the plane in Yellowknife to meet my birth father, and my family – the Enges – and experienced an immediate sense of belonging. I had read about the concept of blood memory – a term used in Indigenous culture referring to memory stored in the cells and passed on genetically.
I felt connected to my biological family, and I was grateful for the opportunity to meet all of them including my grandmother, Anne, a respected Metis elder and leader. She was a true matriarch, and a strong Indigenous woman that had overcome great odds in her lifetime to make meaningful contributions to Yellowknife.
For the past eleven years, Bill has been an important part of my life. He has taught me about our family history including our ancestral ties to Francois Beaulieu (II), “Le Patriarche” – a legend in Northern Metis history. I also learned of our rightful claim, as Powley-tested North Slave Metis, to our ancestral homelands, the region north and east of Great Slave Lake.
Since I’ve known him, Bill has always been locked in litigation with the Crown. We have celebrated several legal victories together, including the 2013 Bathurst Caribou lawsuit, and most recently the Federal Court of Canada decision that the NSMA was not adequately consulted by Canada respecting the NWT Metis Nation Land and Resources Agreement-in-Principle signed July 31, 2015.
When I met my distant cousin, Julie Lys, last summer she talked about the importance of knowing family genealogy. I understand this knowing on a deep level.
To me, it’s more than a piece of paper with a map of your family tree. It’s the stories that come with that lineage and the strength that is born out of knowing who you are. I will never take my family history for granted, because for most of my life – 26 years –I didn’t have it.
I am proud Metis because I know the battle stories of my ancestors and family members, and I honor their struggle with a great sense of pride, and enthusiasm in sharing my culture.