Christine Welsh remembers being shocked at how little students in university classes knew about the Metis when she taught in 2016.
The University of Victoria associate professor emerita was debating retirement – instead, she started talking about creating a legacy project to educate students about the Metis.
Seven years later, the documentary Lii Michif Niiyanaan: We Are Metis was born.
“The film is really a love letter to our people, to our beautiful, courageous and resilient spirit,” said Welsh. “We want it to inspire people and move them and leave them with a deeper understanding of this place we call Canada.”
Welsh created and co-produced the almost 60-minute documentary along with executive producer Jeannine Carriere, co-director and co-producer Gregory Coyes, and co-director and editor Madeline Ell. The three started filming in 2020 from Victoria to Winnipeg, and to numerous cities and towns in between.
Not only is the film about the Metis story most Canadians know, but the largely unknown history that has been covered up due to systemic attitudes to ignore it, according to Coyes.
“It was then that 10,000 of the 12,000 people that lived in the Red River region, which is now Manitoba, were Metis and they democratically elected a Metis government led by Louis Riel and Ottawa ignored all of this. That systemic policy of ignoring has filtered down into our school systems and other place,” said Coyes.
Throughout the filming process, everyone on the team learned about unshared Metis history.
“Very few Canadians know that one of our most beloved national heroes, Terry Fox, was Metis,” said Welsh.
The crew also faced challenges filming during the pandemic.
“The big challenge was COVID-19,” said Welsh. “Making a documentary film that involves many participants, many of whom were elders, during a global pandemic was a real challenge.”
Coyes is also Metis and grew up in the Prairies like Welsh. He was born in St. Albert’s and is part of the L’Hirondelle family. The Albertan sourced many of the interviewees featured in the documentary.
“Our strong desire was to bring contemporary Metis voices forward in this film and give a clear picture of who the Metis are,” said Coyes.
The documentary was set to be released on movingimages.ca on Nov. 27, and a pay-per-view release is soon to follow.
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