A Metis group in southern Saskatchewan is asking a nearby Rural Municipality to hand over a Metis Red River cart.
The Lestock Metis Local is asking the Rural Municipality of Kellross to hand over the cart, which has ties to Metis heritage.
“It comes from this land, from our hands, and it’s an iconic symbol of our ingenuity and our nationhood,” said Robert Doucette, a former President of the Metis Nation-Saskatchewan, and a spokesperson for the Metis loca. “This isn’t just a cart. It’s a statement of who we are and where we may be as a people in the future.”
The cart in question was built by the local Metis community, however, the RM had helped secure funding for the build.
The two organizations have been at odds over ownership of the cart in recent months.
The RM currently has the cart on a static display while the local Metis want to refurbish the cart and use it for cultural celebrations.
On Friday, the two sides held a meeting over the court, which Doucette says was positive.
“Last time they went there it was a ‘not right now and not this time’,” said Doucette. “Now they are willing to to actually talk about it and think think about, what to do with this situation and the Red River cart that was made by the Metis people of Lestock.”
The RM says they will make a decision on the matter in the coming months.
Doucette is hopeful the cart will be back in the hands of the Metis by the summer.
“There is a the door is open, where there’s gonna be future discussions,” he said. “I think we’ll get to a place where we need to be where hopefully, the cart that the Lestock community local made with their own hands is is given back to them.”
(TOP PHOTO: Members of the Lestock Metis Local pose with the REdi River cart. Photo submitted by Robert Doucette)