Tuesday, February 26, 2008

All My Relations

Yesterday when the Métis websites and blogs seemed to be very busy I came across this entry that alleged that BC and Alberta Presidents were related and things are full of nepotism. I thought those were interesting comments and have heard insinuations in the past – so I went to explore these words.

Firstly – let’s review Audrey Poitras’s and Bruce Dumont’s relationship. Audrey’s maiden name is Dumont and that would lead you to assume they must be related somehow but how that gets Bruce or Audrey elected under the definition of nepotism is beyond me. Maybe it is something in the DNA so I thought exploring family lines would be interesting. In Métis land we always appear to identify ourselves via our traditional communities and who our families were.

Bruce and Audrey are indirectly related via this. Gabriel Dumont, past Métis leader and head of the Buffalo hunt had an uncle that he shared stories about – he was his name sake – Uncle Gabriel Dumont. Uncle Gabriel had a brother named Isadore Dumont who was also an Uncle to our infamous past leader Gabriel Dumont. Both of these individuals would be from the late 1700’s or early 1800’s.

One of Audrey’s direct forefathers is the Uncle Gabriel that Gabriel Dumont spoke of and Bruce’s direct forefather was his brother Isadore.

So depending on how many generations between these individuals and their forefathers they may be like 30th cousin to each other.

In Métis land – we all have these extensive family lines that interconnect over past generations and now 7 – 10 generations later we will call that nepotism. Do not be ridiculous people – there is no where in this country that someone would come close to seeing this as nepotism.

As I posted on the previous site though – we do not have to look that far to know and see true nepotism. Has anyone noticed how many Chartrand’s are in Manitoba – David Chartrand, Carl Chartrand, Elbert Chartrand. Much like with Bruce and Audrey – they were elected on a ballot in an election – it must have been okay with the Manitoba electorate – you can not call that nepotism. But then we have sister Fran and in law Cindy Miller who is the sister-in-law to one of David’s brothers. And just to make things a bit more interesting Cindy and this group of in-laws are cousins to Rick Boucher from Metco Ventures Inc.

Yes in Métis land when you say all my relations – none of us has to look far a field and we all seem to share relatives – some much closer then others. So to all of you I say have a great day – ALL MY RELATIONS!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Metis Mama
here in bc we heard that he was
Audrey cousin????? I went to St
Laurent Day,s and i ask the
Honourable Yvon Dumont if he was
Related to Bruce. Yvon told me
the relation is so small you
might as well say. That we are
not related. But iam relate to

Gabriel. I get same ans. from
Bruce

Anonymous said...

Check out Local845.ca for a posting of a Community meeting coming up in Edmonton.

Anonymous said...

I concur Whole heartedly

Anonymous said...

Maybe these nepotist accusers could relate the presidents of BC and Alberta to Kevin Bacon. Let's see if I can do it. We'll try this out on Audrey Poitras -- Poitras met the Queen of England Elizabeth the Second on her tour of Alberta in 2005 and had dinner with the Queen. The Queen many years earlier had dinner with Ronald Reagan. With a little help from Wikipedia I learned that Ronald Reagan starred in The Young Doctors with Eddie Albert. Eddie Albert starred with Kevin Bacon in the Big Picture.

Next we'll hear that the presidents are getting together with Kevin Bacon to make a sequel to Footloose.

Actually anyone who has ever sat through a history course in Canadian politics you will find a lot of family ties within provincial and federal government. Do the names Manning, Mackay and Martin ring a bell with anyone? There are many wonderful history courses available in colleges and university that go over the fact that politics is a family business even amongst white folks.

Anonymous said...

Up here in Region 7. We have Dan Pope as Region 7 regional director.

His brother Gerald pope as Senator.

And Dan and Gerald's sister Peggy Olanski as Women's representative.

No there is no Nepotism in BC.

Anonymous said...

lol....good one.
I think we might hold the nepotism crown here in Manitoba tho'

Anonymous said...

Hi Metis Mama
Re there is no Nepostim Here

in Bc MN bc is family

So is Region 7 by the looks of things

there is enough members out

there share the wealth. this

way when we have a vote it,s

not all FAMILY

Anonymous said...

So no one stood up for these positions, so all one family took them. ahhh.. K..

Sandy MacDonald said...

obviously no one here researches the family lines. The families are tied many ways. through the Dumonts they are probably 5th cousins at the outside but may be closer through the female lines. I asually find this as I research for others trying to get their metis cards.