A social networking model describing a Metis family was one of the highlights during the April 17 Metis Recognition and Rights panel discussion at Lakehead University.
“I’m fascinated by Brenda Macdougall’s social networking model for trying to figure out the historic connections,” said Jean Teillet, a lawyer with Pape Salter Teillet Barristers & Solicitors in Vancouver, great-grandniece of Louis Riel and one of three panelists in the panel discussion. “It’s a pretty interesting thing to see and quite an advance on the way we’ve been able to look at Aboriginal communities.”
Macdougall, chair of Metis Records at the University of Ottawa, described the social networking model during her presentation.
“What I look at really is about world view. Family itself is a world view,” Macdougall said.
“How people understand their relationships with each other represents how they understand the world in which they live. Who is a brother, who is a cousin and who is an uncle? These terms are actually very culturally specific. They don’t all mean the same thing to the same people.”
Macdougall said the Metis world, in her opinion, centred around family and inter-familial relationships that lasted generations.
The panel discussion was just part of a Metis Research Day held at Lakehead University for faculty, students and members of the Metis community.
“It was very educational for the people present and even some of the Metis citizens,” said Metis Senator Bob McKay.
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