ESTEVAN, Sask. — Joanna Blondeau has spent much of her life providing leadership to the Métis people in the Melville area.
But she traces her roots to the southeast, and she still has a lot of family in the region.
Blondeau, who grew up in the Roche Percee area, spoke at Estevan's Orpheum Theatre on Sept. 30 as part of the Orpheum's activities to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. She reflected on growing up in the southeast and some of the changes she has seen over the years.
"There's so much history in this valley, and I'm so proud to be part of it and so proud to see the people here today," Blondeau told the crowd.
She is now an Elder and the president of Métis Nation Saskatchewan Local 15 in Melville. She said she has been the president of that chapter for 50 years, and earlier this year she received a medallion from the Métis nation.
Blondeau said it was a "very big honour" to speak in Estevan.
She was born two days after the start of the Second World War in 1939, and she was three weeks old when her father went to war for Canada, leaving her grandparents to start raising her. In those days, they didn't have a cellular phone, so they listened to the radio for updates on the war effort.
"I grew up learning how to trap, hunt and fish. I was skinning beavers when I was seven years old, helping my grandpa because there was no other young help in those days," said Blondeau, who said she still knows how to hunt and trap.
An estimated 7,300 people of Métis descent from Saskatchewan fought for Canada in the Second World War, she said.
"I think that's quite an accomplishment for Saskatchewan. These are Saskatchewan vets, Métis vets, and I think they really need a hand," she said to applause.
Her father survived the war and returned home, only to die in 1961 when he was struck in the head by a crane in a workplace accident. Blondeau's mother had to take care of her family on her own.
Blondeau has a keen interest in Métis history. She said she was part of a study of the Souris River and has been with 16 First Nations people from the U.S. because they were studying the Souris River, which becomes the Mouse River in the U.S.
"I go wherever they need me to talk about the valley," said Blondeau.
Blondeau also talked about elements of Métis culture and the importance of the people. If it weren't for the Métis people, she said the voyageurs who came to the west wouldn't have survived because they were from different countries and had different ways of living.
She also recalled seeing the huge teepee rings around Roche Percee that were thousands of years old.
"I said to my grandfather one day, 'What are these stones all in big circles for?' He said, 'Well, they were teepees.'"
She was also interested in the horses and how they were well trained to catch up with buffalo but didn't get killed when people speared the buffalo.
"They would be like today's dressage horses. They would be so trained that you just have to touch them on the sides, and they would be trained to chase that buffalo."
Many Blondeaus have lived in the area, and her son Thomas still works in the southeast oilpatch. Her husband was a survivor of the residential school system, having attended an institution at Forget.
Blondeau noted she came to the Orpheum Theatre for many years and enjoyed the movies.
Also during the day, the Orpheum showed the Indigenous films Sk+te’kmujue’katik (At the Place of Ghosts) and Nika and Madison.
