Within the rich lineage of Alberta Métis Cultural History and indigenous history overall, Mary Richard-Supernault offers up her own experiences.
When asked “who are the Metis people?”, Richard-Supernault said, “Oh well, I think they’re a mixture of the native people like the Indian people and some, well, most are a mixture of white like Scottish or, you know. Like my grandmother was born in Fort Chip and her grandpa was a McDonald, who came from Scotland. His name was Donald McDonald. But he came over and he married, I imagine would have been a Cree woman… So then my grandma. That’s my mum’s mum spoke a lot of French. But then she learned Cree. So there is a mixture, like I would say Metis, people are a mixture of different races, you know?”
Alberta Métis Cultural History
Expounding upon that subject further when asked, “what does it mean to you to be Metis?”, Richard-Supernault stated, “At first when I was young. I felt like I was looked down upon. Felt ashamed to be Metis I think especially going out to work. I found that I was being discriminated. Ok, my parents spoke. Just Cree. Like I said, my grandma lived with us and she did speak some French. And my other grandparents on my dad’s side spoke only Cree. So at home, we only spoke Cree. And then I started.”
Richard-Supernault continued, “I actually didn’t start school to say until I was ten years old and I did not know a word of English. That was very hard on me. What happened was when we moved here, I was six years old in 1945. I was born in Fort Vermillion and then my parents moved to what is now Chateh because my dad was a trapper and so was my grandpa. There was a big family.”
Paddle Prairie Metis Settlement memories of childhood included listening to fiddle music and playing ball stood out. Legends/ folklore such as if you don’t wash the dishes, a ghost will lick them and if you whistle at the northern lights, they’ll come down.
Some of the bigger challenges in Richard-Supernault’s early stages in the settlement saw the family freezing big blocks of water to later use that ice as water through the summer. Also, there was no power until the settlement encroached into the 1970’s. Left the settlement in ’68 and returned in 1976 to find power within PPMS.
Knowledge of medicines within nature on occasion trumped conventional doctor knowledge. Like when Richard-Supernault’s father helped a man whose daughter had a sore on her leg that a doctor in Dawson Creek could not subvert.
Paddle Prairie Metis Settlement
Dad and brothers went out to hunt while Richard would help within the house alongside her mother. Her mother was also known to be a trapper herself.
Using the hide and all appropriate parts to the animal was done after a hunt. So as to never have anything go to waste. Boiling bones for marrow was also another commonplace endeavor in those situations.
Not killing cows so as to promote their offspring being birthed was also a conscious effort to maintain a good balance in the ecosystem in a hunter role.
Some things on Paddle Prairie land could not be defined by science and Richard-Supernault noticed these unique omens from nature. She quipped, “Well, what I heard and this is kind of a tall story too. Was that somebody traveling through here from High Level, they seen this big black cloud above Paddle. That was a few years ago and they said something bad is going to happen in Paddle.”
Liberty Multimedia Inc. and Paddle Prairie Métis Settlement would like to thank the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation. For its support of these interviews and dedication to preserving Alberta’s history.