About
âpihtawikosisân is the name the Cree have given to the Métis. It literally means “half-son”. I chose the name to reflect the fact that I am coming from a Métis perspective, and it is not actually my name, legal or otherwise. It sounds like ah-pih-du-wi-GO-si-sahn. In rapid speech it can sound more like ah-pih-duhh-GO-si-sahn which is what most people repeat back to me when asked how to say this word 
I’d understand either pronunciation.
My name is Chelsea Vowel. I am a 36 year old Métis mother of two girls, step-mother to two more. I was born and raised just outside of Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta which is about 70 km west of Edmonton. I have BEd and taught for some time in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. I obtained my LLB from the University of Alberta and then promptly moved to the only civil law jurisdiction in the country…Quebec, making my common-law degree rather less useful.
So here I am, in Montreal, adjusting to an urban existence far from my home territory, adjusting to a new language and culture, and dabbling in Law and Education. Currently I am teaching Inuit youth under protection.
On top of all that, I am pursuing my passion for my Plains Cree language and aboriginal language education in general, and shifting my attention to Indigenous law (our law) rather than Aboriginal law (how the Canadian state relates to us). I ‘relax’ via roller derby as Louise Riel. Less strenuous forms of leisure have me writing and singing songs in Plains Cree.
Where else you’ll read/hear/find me:
The Winter We Danced (I have two pieces in this book)
The often-ignored facts about Elsipogtog: Toronto Star
Indigenous Nationhood Movement: Nationhood is a Verb
Supporting Indigenous Sovereignty and Self-Determination panel (about 16 minutes in)
Supporting Indigenous Sovereignty and Self-Determination panel (video, easier to navigate)
McGill Idle No More teach-in, January 25th, 23 min in
The Globe and Mail: Idle No More only sounds vague. Let’s talk specifics.
Montreal Teach-in, January 6th, 2013 (video)
Indian Country Today
rabble.ca (blogger)
Huffington Post Canada (blogger)
Indian Country Today Media Network
I’m not a huge fan of the comments section on Huff Post which I have no control over and I’ve made the conscious decision not to read or answer posts when I publish there. I try to post my shorter works on HuffPost and keep the longer discussions here.
Open File Montreal
National Post: Assimilation is the not the answer to the Aboriginal ‘problem’
National Post: No, things are not getting better for natives
National Post: The Natives are Restless
National Post:Attawapiskat
Interviews:
Indigenous Waves: discussing the Tsilhqot’in decision
Red Man Laughing: The Chelsea Vowel Interview
FNCFNEA: An Interview With Chelsea Vowel
CBC: Voices of the Idle No More movement (video)
CBC As It Happens: Audit of Attawapiskat
Eighteen Bridges: Burden of Proof
Interview with Wayne K. Spear
CKLB 101.9 Denendeh Sunrise
CKNW AM980, interview about Nanaimo Daily article (at 11:50)
Al Jazeera English: The Stream, “Canada’s First Nation Education Reform Act”. (panel discussion)
CJAD 800 Montreal: Idle No More Second part
CBC The Current: Idle No More
CBC Morning: No Doubt and Cultural Appropriation
Open File Montreal: National Post mix-up
Open File Montreal: Attawapiskat
CBC Superior Morning: Attawapiskat
CBC As It Happens: Attawapiskat (about 9 minutes in)
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103 Responses to About
Well, at least in Quebec civil law a married woman can keep her maiden name –at least this is what I’ve been told by other ex-Quebecois women.
You can keep your maiden name no matter where you are. The choice to change your name (or not) is your own. It is more common among francophones than anglophones in Canada for a married woman to keep her maiden name, but then again, this custom of taking your husband’s name is not one that latinos share either so…regional differences.
I do find your comment rather random. What sparked it?
In fact I understand that in Quebec a woman canNOT change her name to that of her husband if she so desires.
Correct.
The Quebec Civil Code has three justifications for a name change, and the only one that would apply to a married woman would be the ‘general’ clause in article 58. However you have to use the surname for a while before applying to have it legally changed and its up to the registrar of civil status. It’s a fair amount of trouble really, and what a strange conversation
As far as I understand it, unless it has changed, you can “keep your maiden name,” except your maiden name is now considered your married name. Say I got married and changed my name to my husband’s (I did). When the marriage was over I wanted to go back to my maiden name but was told I was only changing my married name even though I was divorced. Hopefully things have changed, When I remarried and my husband wanted to adopt my daughter, I had to adopt her too (1990) I think that has changed as well. Silly laws.
When my sister married, in Manitoba, her husband took HER last name.
It would be nice to have the option, either way.
So much for legality. I was asked by the very Canadian government (in India) to take my husband’s last name, or they wouldn’t approve my visa. I was coming on a spouse application. They routinely do that – I have it on their letter head. I wanted to use my both last names – Sandhu and Bhamra, and went to the embassy in a diff city to reason with them but they said to me in person that I have to “drop” my maiden last name. I had to! But after being in BC for three months, I legally changed it to Sandhu Bhamra, paying fee and going through the trouble of putting my new legal name on each document. I did it because I wanted to. But how many can after your landing papers are in one name?
My mother-out-law ended up being forced to take her husband’s surname when she immigrated to Canada, even though in Chile, the woman keeps her own name and the children take both their father’s and mother’s surname. It smacks of the kind of lazy bureaucratic nonsense of colonisation and early immigration, where officials anglicized or mangled people’s names out of sheer whimsy. Frustrating!
Your blog is wonderful. I’m wondering if you’re okay with me referring students to it on a regular basis and including it on my Facebook account.
Feel free!
I was wondering if I could cross-post your piece “Harper said Attawapiskat got $90 million, where did it all go!?” on my website standupandunite.com which I have dedicated to the recent Attiwapiskat housing crisis and hopefully will evolve into a blog about the woefully insufficient funding to the First Nation communities, the fight for equitable education and the regular douchey things the government does to further marginalize the Native people of Canada. It seems all Canadian governments, Conservative (oopps, I mean the HARPER) and Liberal governments have treated our Native population as negligible, but the HARPER government also treats them with such disdain it is truly offensive. Your article clarifies much about the $90 million dollars in funding over five years and how far it doesn’t go. These meager crumbs of the King’s banquet table barely even addresses the housing crisis and that would be addressed only, and if only, all other services would be forgone. Sad state of affairs. I find it obscene for any representative of the Canadian people to use shock rhetoric in reference to this $90 million; knowing that most Canadians will not do the math, making it sound like the First Nation people of Attawapiskat won the lottery. Your article clearly speaks to the truth and explains how little $90 million does for a community faced with the extremely harsh climate challenges the Attawapiskat people face. You can email me at mmayermcknight@gmail.com if you allow me to cross post this, with attribution to you of course. Thanks.
Please yes, feel free to repost, crosspost, link to, discuss over coffee, shout out loud, compose a musical to, or what have you
Thanks so very much!
I found your explanation about spending in Attawapiskat very helpful. Thank you.
I am a producer with CBC Radio. Is there any chance we could have a chat?
An excellent, well-reasoned & persuasive piece on Attawapiskat. Thanks for taking the time to make sense of what would otherwise be a two-minute sound bite on Newsworld.
Do you also have a Twitter feed we could follow? I am at twitter.com/DavidSpencer
I am connecting students and staff with Aboriginal culture and history.
David Spencer
Aboriginal and Environmental Education Circle (AEE Circle)
aboriginal.davidspencer.ca
I do not have a twitter feed, sorry:)
Would love to speak to you for a possible interview about this blog.
Hi,
I’ve just read your excellent analysis of the issues in Attawapiskat – I have some questions about Indigenous law and history – hoping you could be of some help with suggestions. Is there a way I can contact you? (Alternatively – since I’m logged in to this comment via facebook, could you send me a contact message via FB)?
I’d of sent this more directly but haven’t seen a contact form on this blog.
Thanks,
Aubrey Harris
Coordinator
Campaign to Abolish the Death Penalty
Amnesty International – Canadian Section
English-Speaking Branch
dpacoordinator@amnesty.ca
Before anyone can really appriciate or comment what is happening in Attawapiskat, one should understand the history of the community and how it came to be. You have to physically see the community, look at where it is located on the James Bay coast and then you will get an understanding why the houses are delapitated and unliveable.
You will also find out what role the Federal Government played in causing the hardships of these people. if one comes to know and see the area these people where moved from so that the Government could better service them, you will find the original settlement of the Attawapiskat people was where the DeBeers Diamond mine is located.
As always with a pocket full of lies the Gov’t promised them a better life. They live on a built up piece of land about 16 square city blocks surrounded by swamp land that is prone to tidal flooding every afternoon so they become land locked this time everyday. They get thier water from a place called Dead Dog Lake (name speaks for itself), the garbage dump seeps into this lake and the surrounding water table, and the chemical waste is siutated about five hundred feet from the community and also seeps into the water table.
A person has to walk the same ground these people walk everyday to begin to understand why things are the way they are. Throw the dog a bone and it will keep quite doesn’t work anymore and it sure as hell won’t work here.
Like everything else there are two sides to every story, if a person digs deep enough one might even see the possibility of a plot between the Gov’t and the Catholic Church to christenise the people and make it easier to scoop them for the Residential Schools.
Finally, why was INAC at the time of Debeers wanting to open thier Diamond Mine so anxious for the Chief and Council of Attawapiskat to sign an Impact Benefit Agreement that was poorly written and did note mention or address the Social Impact this was going to have the community.
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