MMF President sharing how to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day in Metis homeland

The leader of Manitoba's Metis Nation is asking people to dive into the history of Manitoba on Indigenous Peoples Day.

Manitoba Metis Federation (MMF) President David Chartrand is disappointed that another year is going by without having Indigenous Peoples Day celebrations in Selkirk. As they wait to gather, Chartrand is suggesting people take the day to learn about the history of Manitoba.

"One of the things people don't do enough, Canada as a whole, but they do not do enough to look and reflect on our history and look at what we have," Chartrand says.

Chartrand hopes Metis people feel proud to be Metis in Manitoba.

He suggests learning about locations such as Lower Fort Garry, Louis Reil's House, St. Norbert, and other places that hold Metis history. MMF has created a scavenger hunt for younger children.

Chartrand suggests people take time to acknowledge and learn about the history of places in Manitoba that may have a different history than what was told. An example he shares is the Victory of Frog Plain, also known as the Battle of Seven Oak, which was the first time the Metis went into battle, located near what is now the Green Bier Inn in Winnipeg.

"We were sort of pictured to others to look at us as villains because of that written historical wrongs that were being imprinted in the plaques to describe us as different than this was all about. It took us 200 years now to write stories there."

Chartrand says in the past Metis history has been written painting them as villains, which is something they are working to change.

He says the most significant way to celebrate the day and learn about history is by being with family.

"One of the things we try to push and have been pushing for the last number of years is to spend time with family because our Metis Nation is all about family We are very a united group of people, but one of the things that we are most proud of is our families."