They're our cousins. They're our family. I, myself, come from the Chartrand family as well. I come from many Métis communities. I have 38 Métis connections. Whenever I go to western Canada, everybody says that I'm related to everybody.
That's why.... My wife is from South Africa. We always joke about it because most times we are very well connected throughout the whole country. Anywhere I go in western Canada especially, I'm related. I'm well involved in sports. Even on the first nations side, there's family.
I'm of Iroquois descent as well. I am a descendent through the Calliou and Belcourt clan, who are Iroquois.
We are interconnected in many different ways. We're still interconnected and we still practice our ceremonies and our laws. That's important to me because I know how distinctly different we are. There are those nehiyaw moniyaw, those Métis people who are just coming home, but they don't understand yet the heart of what it means to be Métis because they grew up with a colonial mentality.
I hope that helps.