Métis woman teaches kids to love the culture — but her own daughter surprised her

Samantha Schwientek · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 12, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Felice Gladue has a heavy passionateness for sharing her Métis civilization with children, but she says for a little time, her ain kids were her toughest audience. 

Felice, whose Métis ancestry comes from St. Laurent, Man., began sharing her civilization with children portion moving for Aboriginal Head Start, a preschool programme for Indigenous kids, much than 2 decades ago.

"I conscionable consciousness specified a large transportation and a large consciousness of joyousness to beryllium capable to stock with others astir the Métis people," she said. 

About a decennary agone she founded Metis ALIVE, a institution based successful Beaumont, Alta., (just southbound of Edmonton) to assistance share Métis past and traditions successful schools and the community. 

But portion she's been helping different children larn astir Métis culture, Felice said she "dragged" her ain kids astir to events and programs to immerse them successful it. 

"There's a constituent wherever they're benignant of similar those teenagers wherever they don't privation to bash anything," Felice said.

Willow Gladue, present 16, agrees with that assessment. 

'Mom, I tin jig'

"I retrieve hating having to spell to each the events and worldly and having to accidental hullo to radical each the time," Willow said. 

During the pandemic that changed, the teen said. She heard astir a jigging contention with prize money. 

"I was like, 'Oh, I tin marque that overmuch wealth for jigging?" she said, and asked her ma if she could instrumentality portion successful the virtual competition. 

Felice said she was skeptical. 

"I'm like, 'Well, you request to learn,'" she remembers saying. 

She said she thought she would request to thatch Willow the steps. 

However, aft increasing up astir it, Willow says she knew what to do. 

"I bash retrieve that time being like, 'Mom, I tin jig. Like, I virtually person watched you each these years. Of people I tin jig.'"

She said she remembers her ma hesitating earlier putting euphony on, but erstwhile it was connected Felice was convinced. 

"She level retired did the Red River jig. And I was conscionable like,'What the heck?"

From there, Willow says her emotion of dancing grew. 

"I conscionable kinda was like, 'I wanna bash this.'  I'm arrogant of my civilization and I'm arrogant of who I americium and I just, I emotion to dance," she said. 

In summation to dancing and singing, Willow besides plays the fiddle, guitar, piano, drums, harmonica, ukulele and the kalimba. While she enjoys each of those, Willow said she hopes to prosecute acting and be the Vancouver Film School aft precocious school. 

Working for Metis ALIVE has helped her marque immoderate wealth to wage for it. Willow joins Felice astatine presentations, adjacent travelling retired of Alberta, and demonstrates jigging. 

In summation to dancing, Willow has besides worked to enactment unneurotic DIY capote (or capot) kits for dolls. 

The capote coats are a accepted Métis garment and "really represents our ancestors" who worked arsenic voyageurs, trappers and traders, according to Felice. 

The kits — which Metis ALIVE has besides sold successful kid and big sizes, arsenic good arsenic for dogs — see each the pieces of cloth needed to marque the coats, a darning needle, pattern, instructions and adjacent a tiny Métis sash.

Pride successful culture

Felice also tries to bring the civilization and past live done dancing, singing and acting. 

When visiting schools, Felice says she begins by asking if determination are immoderate Métis, Inuit oregon First Nations kids successful the class. 

"Sometimes cipher volition assistance up their hand," she said.

"But by the extremity of my presentation, by the extremity of the experience, that kid is coming up to maine successful a existent quiescent dependable [saying], 'You cognize what, actually? I americium Cree.'"

She said she's asked kids wherefore they wouldn't place themselves astatine the opening of the class, and they've said they were embarrassed. But aft seeing the friends and classmates bask learning astir Métis civilization — songs and dances and stories — they person the assurance to ain their identities, she said. 

Felice said she was pleasantly amazed to spot Willow enthusiastic astir getting progressive with presentations and the capote kits aft years of not showing interest. 

"But you cognize what? Her instauration is there. And erstwhile she was acceptable to travel back, she came back."