Herb Belcourt - Walking in the Woods: A Métis Memoir

PHOTO CREDIT: BRAD GIBBONS, DBPHOTOGRAPHICS.CA

Preface to the 2017 Edition

AFTER WALKING IN THE WOODS in 2006, I lingered to let my roots deepen. Our family still owns a lot of land at Lac Ste. Anne. I traced places I had heard about, among them my birthplace where the original cabin (long gone) was so poorly insulated boiling water froze in the kettle overnight. I reacquainted myself with the area I had left behind, talking with friends and family about the years I had missed. The result was a Belcourt family reunionheld on my cousin Bobs land in August 2007that brought together relatives from across the country to celebrate 225 years of one of Albertas oldest families. It was a wonderful reunion.

We rented a tent that held a thousand people. Family jumped in and helped. We used laptops to gather important information: everyones names, where they came from, and what they were doing. A person doesnt realize how many relatives they actually have until they show up for a celebration like this and camp out across the land. They came from BC, Saskatchewan, Ontario, southern Alberta, Peace River, Grand Prairie, Fort McMurray, Marlboro, and from around Lac Ste. Anne itself, of courseDarwell and Wabamun. Some brought guitars and fiddles and we danced and sang.

I felt so much at home here that in 2009 I bought a cabin on the lake in Val Quentin, a short drive from the Mtis settlements and mission where the annual pilgrimage is held. Sitting on the porch and watching herons, loons, and plovers feeding on the lake was a pleasure. Seeing geese trustingly move goslings from the water and sit them under their wings on my grass was a joy. Muskrats would swim by in the early hours just after the sun rose. I relished those still, peaceful moments with nature.

Since writing Walking in the Woods ten years ago, I still get calls from people asking if they can get another book from me, as they want to give it to a friend or relative as a gift. Others stop to tell me how much they enjoyed reading it or how they couldnt put it down. Since writing it, a lot of changes have happened. My elder son, David, died shortly after it was published. Then I lost three sisters and three brothers. I am so glad their stories will continue to be shared in this book.

On a more positive note: my granddaughter Amethyst, who came with me on my journey through the woods when she was only eleven, brought into the world on March 20, 2016 two beautiful identical boys, Liam and Jacksonmy great-grandsons. They bring me so much joy.

For the past ten years, I have remained active in many of the same organizations, but I also added a few. In 2008 I became a member of the University of Alberta Gathering Place, and in 2010 Chair of the Native Counselling Homelessness Project while continuing as a board member for Native Counselling Services of Alberta until 2012. I became Vice Chair of Mtis Nation Rupertsland Institute Board of Governors in 2010, then acted as Interim Chair 20112013 and again in 2014. I was a board member on Grant MacEwans Faculty of Business from 2010 until 2013. My term on the RCMP Commanding Officers Aboriginal Elders Advisory Committee K Division ended in 2013, but they gave me an honorary ambassador position instead; after three years on the board of Amiskwaciy Cultural Society I was made an honorary member in 2016.

But the majority of my time by far has been devoted to the Belcourt Brosseau Mtis Awards (BBMA) that Georges Brosseau, Orval Belcourt, and I established after we liquidated Canative Housing.

Each year, at a dinner, we honour the BBMA students by highlighting their successes and our culture. In September 2016, we celebrated our fifteenth anniversary. Over one hundred alumni opened our ceremony carrying torches into the darkened room. These former recipients of our awards, who had graduated in many disciplines to become successful in their chosen fields, acted as an inspiration to those students about to take part in their own sash ceremony initiated by Elder Marge Friedel and Theresa Majeran in 2006. Their entry brought tears to many eyes.

Over this past year I have been in emergency several times, and on two separate occasions I met two nurses who had received awards from our BBMA fund. They gave me such huge hugs. One brought flowers to my bedside. At a funeral recently, the niece of the deceased hugged me, saying she, too, through BBMA had been able to graduate as a social worker and was giving back to Aboriginal people. On another occasion, while watching a parade at Alberta Beach, I was unexpectedly hugged from behind by a woman studying education on the strength of her BBMA award. Having so many loving hugs is the sweetest reward I could receive. It tells me that all these years have been worthwhile and that our work has changed peoples lives for the better. Recipients and their families continue in the spirit of family and give back, making donations to our fund, allowing it to grow and flourish. I am so proud of them.