Community begins healing through roundtable discussions.

WILLOW BUNCH 

A community that has begun to heal is how Randy Gaudry and Henri Bouvier view the impact of recent roundtable discussions held in Willow Bunch in mid-September.

"What has happened is far better than what I thought would happen," admits Gaudry, past president of Metis Local No. 17 and local spokesman for the Willow Bunch roundtable.

"It was definitely worthwhile to be involved in this," said Bouvier, the elected Assemble communautaire fransaskoise representative for Willow Bunch.

Both men helped organize the second roundtable in as many years that brought together Metis and Francophones, to this one in southern Saskatchewan and both were panelists for the weekend discussion.

"These traveling roundtables aim to bring both groups back together. Since the Louis Riel Red River Rebellion, the two groups went their separate ways and they have since become more segregated," explains Allan Purga, communications officer for Institut francais, of the University of Regina, which has played an instrumental role in the roundtables.

"There is tension between the two groups and it's recent conflicts in Willow Bunch," Peter Dorrington, associate director for Institute francais further notes. "The roundtable allowed an open airing of issues by having a constructive process."

"I'm a person who says history is history, so let's move on. But, I think we had to discuss history before we could move on," said Bouvier.

Gaudry agrees.

History in Willow Bunch has been fraught with tension between the Metis and Francophone and one reason for that tension, said Gaudry, was the reprinting of a Willow Bunch history book written by a Catholic priest in the 1920s. The book was reissued in 1970 to mark Willow Bunch's 100th anniversary. What was upsetting, Gaudry points out, was that no preamble or foreword was included explaining that the book was a representation of the time in which it was written. The book refers to Metis as second class and savages. Four or five years ago, funding from the Aboriginal Healing Foundation allowed Willow Bunch Metis to compose their own history book. The result was two opposing views of Willow Bunch.

Gaudry, now 57, was 10 when his family moved to the Calgary area from Willow Bunch. He returned 13 years ago and revived the local Metis association, which "caused quite a stir. There's still a lot of red neck and racist stuff around here."

Even the discussion as to who founded Willow Bunch is a bone of contention. There were 25 Metis families in the community who invited Jean Louis Legare to open a business. As far as Gaudry is concerned, Legare is the first businessman in Willow Bunch and not the community's founder, which is commonly claimed.

"There's a lot of hurt feelings about that," said Gaudry. It even goes as far as Metis in Willow Bunch, a community of 395, southeast of Assiniboia, ignoring their heritage. It's been easier for many, said Gaudry, to distance themselves from their Metis roots in order to avoid racism.

Bouvier moved to Willow Bunch five years ago and admits that the tension between the Francophones and Metis can be palpable at times and it was this obvious tension that caused him to help organize the most recent roundtable. He was also part of the organizing committee for the first roundtable held in Batoche in 2007. His experience there convinced him to push for a similar roundtable in Willow Bunch.

"The purpose of the roundtable is to foster good relations between the two ethnic groups, to get dialogue going between the two groups," said Bouvier.

"What comes out of this is concrete. It's a concrete result that they are talking," said Dorrington, "and that's the beginning of the healing process."

Not even two weeks after the roundtable was held, Metis and Francophones were already discussing collaborating in a joint fundraiser as well as offering French and Michif language classes.

"If we learn each other's language that would be one way of moving forward," said Bouvier.

"There are concrete things that have come out of this workshop," agrees Gaudry, "but we're not one happy family. We are beginning to show mutual respect however."

Gaudry points out that he told the 250 participants at the twoday conference that although the wrongs of history were not their doing "that it is our fault if we try not to rectify it."

The roundtable discussion in Willow Bunch was an opportunity for Metis and Francophone in the province's south to talk. The roundtable held in Batoche the previous year was designated for Francophone and Metis from central and northern Saskatchewan.

Next year's roundtable will be open for all Metis and Francophone across the province. Dorrington is hopeful to get roundtable discussions going in Alberta and Manitoba as well, with Alberta's first roundtable tentatively scheduled for next spring.

The Travelling Roundtables Organizing Committee grew out of a conference hosted by Institut francais of the University of Regina in 2005. The traveling roundtable is the only such initiative of its kind in Canada, allowing Francophones and Metis an opportunity for honest and open discussion. Dorrington is hopeful that the model, which allows both groups to talk in their mother tongues and which is enriched with cultural and spiritual presentations, can be adapted for discussions among other groups of people.

BY SHARI NARINE

Sweetgrass Writer