A new generation of Indigenous researchers are intent on changing the face of their disciplines in Canada — digging up new ways of researching and even thinking about fields long seen as colonial
Métis people in Canada are jubilant after the Supreme Court of Canada resolved a legal land battle that was 143 years in the making, the second historic constitutional victory in months.
“My people will sleep for 100 years,” prophesied Métis leader Louis Riel before his Canadian execution in 1885. “And when they awake, it will be the artists who give them back their spirit.” For 36-year old installation artist Dylan Miner, the (in)famous insurrectionist’s words are a guiding force. It is a force which has seen him building and displaying his trademark – and distinctly Indigenous – low-rider bicycles across the continent.
Could the battle against Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline have a parallel in the NorthWest Rebellion, the 1885 uprising of Métis and First Nations which led to Canada’s infamous hanging of Louis Riel and others?
David P Ball 