Taanishii hello everyone! Welcome to the
RLI Métis Foundational Knowledge Themes Moodle Course
AUGUST 2022 Moodle Cohort.
We hope that you are excited to begin (or continue) your learning journey about the Métis Nation.
Once the course begins, please login to ensure you have access to the course.
Each week, an RLI Education Team Member will post a two questions (TRIVIA and REFLECTION) in this post.
RESPOND by clicking 'Reply' to ONE QUESTION OR BOTH QUESTIONS each week.
- All responses will be a collected as entries in a draw for a printed set of the Métis Foundational Knowledge Themes (draw will take place at the end of the month).
- You may respond to the questions at any time throughout the month, it does not have to be the same week that it was posted.
- In your post, please ensure you reference which question you're responding to (For example: Week 1 Trivia)
In a post below, please introduce yourself!
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- What is your name?
- Where are you joining from?
- Why did you sign up for the Moodle course?
- What is one question you would like to have answered about the Métis through this course?
WEEK 2 TRIVIA:
The core Métis value of kinship, community, and networking is evident in which of the following traditions?
a) celebrations
b) sharing extra wild game
c) traditional house design
d) all the choices are correct
WEEK 2 REFLECTION:
“Without [their] culture, without that strong line from [their] forefathers, no [person] knows who [they] really [are]. If one does not know who [they are], [they] cannot possess pride or dignity for [themselves] or [their] people.”
Dr. Anne Anderson, Métis scholar and leader
Dr. Anne Anderson highlights the key relationship between a person's identity and their cultural heritage. Why would it be important to celebrate distinct Métis culture in an educational community?
TRIVIA 3:
Where do Métis people in Alberta live today?
REFLECTION 3:
“"Learning history through textbooks is not enough . . . It is important for students to learn by hearing stories of the past. . . . Stories help to create empathy and engage students, giving them an opportunity to see things from another perspective."
Norma Spicer
In what ways do K-12 students in Alberta benefit from learning about Métis stories around Alberta? Share an example of how you have witnessed a learner’s perspective develop/change by learning about Indigenous histories in their area, if you have one.
WEEK 4 TRIVIA:
Why do people commemorate Louis Riel on November 16th?
WEEK 4 REFLECTION:
Métis resilience is expressed in the way Métis name themselves as otipemisiwak - the reality that the Métis know, govern, own, and care for themselves. What ways do Métis live out resilience?
WEEK 5 TRIVIA:
Match each term to the correct defintion.
Terms:
1) Wahkohtowin
2) Otipemisiwak
Definitions:
a) A word in the Cree language expressing the idea that the Métis lead, govern, care for, and own themselves.
b) A word in the Cree language describing the importance of kinship among family, extended family, and relationships built extending to natural and spiritual worlds, human and non-human, living and not living worlds
WEEK 5 REFLECTION:
“Through the hunt, Métis could understand themselves as a web of kin relations, expressing a collective political will through an assembly of inter-related families, that choose a mutually agreed upon leadership.”
–Adam Gaudry, “Kaa-tipeyimishoyaahk—‘We Are Those Who Own Ourselves’: APolitical History of Métis Self-Determination in the North-West, 1830-1870” (PhD dissertation, University of Victoria, 2014), 29.
Dr. Adam Gaudry highlights how wahkohtowin is a core framework guiding Métis governance.
Why is it important to teach about wahkohtowin and otipemisiwak as Métis Ways of governing?
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Kimberley Fraser-Airhart
Rupertsland Institute
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