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!