From Half-Breed to From The Ashes: Contemporary Métis Identity with Prof. Jesse Thistle

I received an email a few weeks ago from the Institute of Indigenous Research & Studies (IIRS) about a talk featuring a Métis scholar named Jesse Thistle.

I vaguely recalled the name, then later realized I had watched his short film, kiskisiwin – remembering, in one of my classes last semester. Dr. Thistle is a historian and author of the best-selling book From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way, which I was able to purchase (and get a signed copy of!) at the event.

I had planned on attending the talk simply for my own pleasure, but as it turns out, the themes that Jesse reiterated throughout it happened to tie in very nicely to some of the work I'm currently doing for my CSL placement.

Instead of talking about himself for a whole hour, he spoke of his close relations – his kokum (grandmother) and mushoom (grandfather). If I recall correctly, Jesse said something along the lines of: if we wanted to learn about his journey, we should just read his book. But on that day at uOttawa, he was there to talk about his Métis-Cree identity, and he could not do that unless he talked about his ancestors and their stories.

I will not divulge any of the content shared in Jesse's presentation, and I would strongly encourage anyone who has the opportunity to hear him speak to take advantage of it. But, I will say that as a whole, Jesse's talk emphasized Métis identity as being defined by a kind of shared social kinship, and relations built on mutual respect with other Métis. As I got my book signed and talked to Jesse about my CSL project, he reinforced the idea that Indigeneity is not a blood or DNA relation – that although he had been biologically born to Indigenous parents, he could not once again consider himself part of his ancestor's community until he (later on in his life) reconciled his relationships with estranged family members and invested himself in learning about his lineage.

I hope that I'll run into Jesse again someday on either my academic or personal learning journey. Hopefully by then, I'll have finished reading From the Ashes.

The inside cover of my copy of From the Ashes, signed by Jesse Thistle.