Within the rich lineage of Alberta Métis Cultural History and indigenous history overall, Les Nooskey offers up his own experiences.
When asked “who are the Métis people?”, Les Nooskey gave an incredibly nuanced and detailed answer that showed how deeply rooted in the culture he has been. Nooskey said, “Well, that’s you know, that’s a question I’ve dealt with majority of my life. Because there’s always some misconception. Long as you has brown skin, you’re an Indian and you got all the same benefits and people right here in Alberta alone do not realize the difference between even the Métis Nation and Metis settlements. We have the good fortune here in Paddle Prairie that we own the largest Métis land base in all of Canada. But these things have to be brought…”
“They are somehow come forward like in universities or colleges, in the public sector, the difference of being a Metis Settlement member and being a First Nations person, you know they have their misconceptions too. This is going to be more exposure out there than it was when I started with Métis nation of Alberta in 1970, that first took my first membership. And born and raised here. I was born here in 1949. There have been some enormous changes, you know, like when I grew up here, you know we had…What people take for granted today, like we had nothing. If you tried to go to Manning if you got to Manning within 4 hours, you were doing great.”
“You know there’s no gravel roads. You go behind a gravel truck and that’s where we stayed. In winter time we were snowed in, and we only had a Telegraph line to Keg River and sometimes the Telegraph line would be down. You have to send people out to go fix it and that’s their only communication to the outside. Though the Mackenzie Highway was here, but you know there was limited service. The community was a lot closer in those days. We were a small community. Everybody was pretty well located in Hamlet here. In the 60s we started to get power in most places and then these guys are getting outside communications.”
Alberta Métis Cultural History
“I left here in sixty-six. I went to school up in Grouard every few years. Got my high school education there. But Paddle Prairie always be my home and I’ll never deny that I am from Paddle Prairie, you know. There’s been enormous changes since the signing of the accord and the majority has all be for the better. You know, we’ve got a lot of young, educated people. We’ve got some local companies here and the majority of the local people are employed by them. Like I had the good fortune of working for…I did two terms here for the Paddle Prairie Metis settlement as a Counselor, I did two terms for the Metis Nation of Alberta.”
“I was the region 6 president and so I know like the difference between the two organizations and like the Metis Nation of Alberta. The only people that they represent is the card-holding members, not every Metis In the province of Alberta. And that’s how it’s always been; a bit of a conflict in every assembly that I’ve attended. They represent me because I chose to be a member of the Metis Nation of Alberta but some people are not card-holding members. So they’re not, but they are members of our settlement. And they have their choice. “
Nooskey continued, “But as a Metis nation of Alberta, they have really strict guidelines. You have to prove that you are Metis and there’s no buts or maybes and you know. That’s why you gotta respect them for their integrity of maintaining the Metis membership within the Metis homeland. Because the situation we have now with this bylaw that we have has caused a lot of controversy. And we don’t need that in our communities, our communities are small. We’re all connected one way or the other, Intermarriages, you know, families and you know…we have enough trouble with the outside world, We don’t need anything amongst ourselves.”
Paddle Prairie Metis Settlement
Nooskey recalls childhood memories on Paddle Prairie Metis Settlement of fiddles, dancing, sports, and general closeness.
A lot of negative cultural depictions from outsiders have plagued the PPMS. But have also hurt the indigenous community at large which Nooskey touched on. The importance of holding one’s head high in the face of all of that was a big focus to Nooskey for his fellow Metis people.
He engaged in a bit of trapping and a bit of hunting. But even with that relative experience, also preached the importance of ethical and comprehensive hunting that more seasoned hunters from the settlement have also preached. Localized medicines like peppermint tea helped with significant health episodes. Especially in the absence of a doctor being in close proximity to Paddle Prairie.
In years since, Nooskey has noticed too many pesticides and interferences in the landscape. Ones that not only compromise the physical land but it’s surrounding ecosystem. Also, the cultural phasing out of speaking Cree among the younger generation and the disintegration of language seems to dishearten Nooskey.
Liberty Multimedia Inc. and Paddle Prairie Métis Settlement would like to thank Alberta Culture for its support of these interviews and dedication to preserving Alberta’s history.