Manitoba Métis Federation purchases historical artifacts
The Manitoba Métis Federation unveiled its newly acquired 142-piece collection on Wednesday in Winnipeg. The collection, titled Our Grandmothers, includes silk embroidery, beaded caribou hide coats and moccasins, along with everyday items such as horse blankets.
Some of the artifacts date back as early as 1830.
MATTHEW FRANK / FREE PRESS
The Manitoba Métis Federation unveils its newly acquired 142-piece collection, Our Grandmothers.
The exhibition will be housed in the MMF's Red River Métis National Heritage Centre at 335 Main St., which is slated to open by 2027.
Gregory Scofield, a University of Victoria professor and the collection's curator, says it took nearly 25 years to gather all the items in the collection.
'These pieces carry the stories, the geographies, the thoughts, the energy of the women that created them, and so these pieces really become a visual document,' he says.
The items represent the utilitarian work Métis women did for their families, and were created either as gifts or to be sold at tourist markets.
The majority of the artifacts are from Manitoba, while others originate from different Métis settlements in Western Canada, but Scofield says some were found in France, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States.
As someone who identifies as Red River Métis, Scofield sought out the pieces not for his personal collection, but so they could eventually be returned to Manitoba for the community to appreciate.
It has been a sacred and emotional experience finding and reclaiming the items so the Métis community's ancestral grandmothers can be honoured, he says.
'They have been sitting in boxes, or they've been discarded, or they've been misrepresented or misidentified, so when the pieces have returned home, you're able to give them their proper attributions again, being able to caretake for them, not only physically, but to also be able to also give them back their stories,' Scofield says.
Our Grandmothers marks the second collection the MMF has purchased to fill its heritage centre. The first included literature and documents, including poems written by Métis leader Louis Riel.
MMF president David Chartrand says his organization has spent nearly $1 million reclaiming items, and he intends to spend more.
MATTHEW FRANK / FREE PRESS
University of Victoria professor and curator Gregory Scofield with a beaded caribou hide coat.
The exhibitions are also being rounded out with items donated by citizens who have shared family heirlooms.
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Chartrand hopes the artifacts will help educate the public about Métis heritage and the wider story of how Western Canada was built.
'I hope people will take away, first, the richness of my people, and a sense of our pride for who we are,' Chartrand told reporters.
'Why these beads? You see how beautiful they are. You'll look and you'll just see colours, to us, we see stories.'
There has been no resistance in handing the items over to be displayed, Chartrand says, adding the MMF is also discussing repatriating items from other Canadian museums and the Roman Catholic Church.
matthew.frank@freepress.mb.ca
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Winnipeg Free Press
5 days ago
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Manitoba Métis Federation purchases historical artifacts
Métis artifacts previously scattered across the world have now returned home to Manitoba. The Manitoba Métis Federation unveiled its newly acquired 142-piece collection on Wednesday in Winnipeg. The collection, titled Our Grandmothers, includes silk embroidery, beaded caribou hide coats and moccasins, along with everyday items such as horse blankets. Some of the artifacts date back as early as 1830. MATTHEW FRANK / FREE PRESS The Manitoba Métis Federation unveils its newly acquired 142-piece collection, Our Grandmothers. The exhibition will be housed in the MMF's Red River Métis National Heritage Centre at 335 Main St., which is slated to open by 2027. Gregory Scofield, a University of Victoria professor and the collection's curator, says it took nearly 25 years to gather all the items in the collection. 'These pieces carry the stories, the geographies, the thoughts, the energy of the women that created them, and so these pieces really become a visual document,' he says. The items represent the utilitarian work Métis women did for their families, and were created either as gifts or to be sold at tourist markets. The majority of the artifacts are from Manitoba, while others originate from different Métis settlements in Western Canada, but Scofield says some were found in France, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. As someone who identifies as Red River Métis, Scofield sought out the pieces not for his personal collection, but so they could eventually be returned to Manitoba for the community to appreciate. It has been a sacred and emotional experience finding and reclaiming the items so the Métis community's ancestral grandmothers can be honoured, he says. 'They have been sitting in boxes, or they've been discarded, or they've been misrepresented or misidentified, so when the pieces have returned home, you're able to give them their proper attributions again, being able to caretake for them, not only physically, but to also be able to also give them back their stories,' Scofield says. Our Grandmothers marks the second collection the MMF has purchased to fill its heritage centre. The first included literature and documents, including poems written by Métis leader Louis Riel. MMF president David Chartrand says his organization has spent nearly $1 million reclaiming items, and he intends to spend more. MATTHEW FRANK / FREE PRESS University of Victoria professor and curator Gregory Scofield with a beaded caribou hide coat. The exhibitions are also being rounded out with items donated by citizens who have shared family heirlooms. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. Chartrand hopes the artifacts will help educate the public about Métis heritage and the wider story of how Western Canada was built. 'I hope people will take away, first, the richness of my people, and a sense of our pride for who we are,' Chartrand told reporters. 'Why these beads? You see how beautiful they are. You'll look and you'll just see colours, to us, we see stories.' There has been no resistance in handing the items over to be displayed, Chartrand says, adding the MMF is also discussing repatriating items from other Canadian museums and the Roman Catholic Church.
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The unveiling coincides with MMF's celebration of the reopening of Portage Avenue and Main Street to foot traffic, which happened Friday after nearly 46 years. The federation completed a stewardship transfer of the Our Grandmothers Collection this year with Gregory Scofield, an author, University of Victoria professor and Red River Métis beadwork artist who is the curator of the collection. He spent more than two decades hunting down and preserving the artifacts. For the collection, "coming home means the grandmothers, first and foremost, are not lost or circulating out in the world far away from us, their little ancestors," said Scofield, author of Our Grandmother's Hands: Repatriating Métis Material Art. " It also means they're not sitting in boxes or storage bins. It means they are not being used as currency in galleries or auction houses with prices attached to their worth.... It means they are no longer forgotten." 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'Bold, transformational' investment in downtown: mayor The federation bought the former Bank of Montreal building at Portage and Main in 2020, with plans to transform it into the centre. Last year, it acquired two nearby buildings — 333 Main St. and 191 Pioneer Ave. — along with a surface parking lot. Provincial Housing, Homelessness and Addictions Minister Bernadette Smith, who is a member of the Métis Nation, acknowledged the significance of the location as a hub for trade, diplomacy and kinship. "It's also a place where the Métis Nation was born and where its spirit continues to thrive," said the Point Douglas MLA. "Today we mark more than just a reopening of a street corner — we celebrate the powerful act of reconnection between the Red River Métis and the land that had always been called home." Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham acknowledged the MMF's efforts to help revitalize the iconic street corner, which reopened to street-level pedestrian crossing on Friday, after decades of allowing only underground crossing at Portage and Main. While the idea of reopening was voted down in a 2018 plebiscite, Gillingham led a motion to do that, without public consultation, in 2024, on the heels of a report that pegged cost of repairs to the barricaded-intersection and underground concourse in the range of $73 million. That same report suggested it would cost much less to reopen Portage and Main. "The MMF's investment in this intersection and in the city's core … is bold, transformational and deeply appreciated," Gillingham said. "There's so much work that we have yet to do, but it's part of the progress we're all making … to build a downtown for everyone." MMF President David Chartrand said on top of acquiring roughly 600,000 square feet of space downtown in recent years, the federation has also moved about 600 of its employees into its offices in Winnipeg's core, in part to help downtown recover from a lingering economic downturn driven by the pandemic. "I can't wait to see the finishing product of the beautification of downtown," said Chartrand. "It's not yet finished…. The beautification that we [have] the privilege of seeing, where the mayor and city is going, is going to make you feel a great sigh of relief that Portage and Main is alive."
