Category: Mary and her Metis Grandma

1) This is auto-fiction and biographical, memoir and historical literary fiction. There are two sets of memoirs; one from the early 1900s (Grandma) and the other from the 1980s through to 2021 (teenager, Mary). I’ve embellished and rewrote my Grandmother’s factually correct memoirs and placed them into additional historical and current events. The manuscript is character-driven with honest emotions.

2) MAHMG is an auto-fiction story of Mary, the 15-year-old Métis, who deals with survivor’s guilt, racism and finding a place where she feels she belongs. Mary lived with her plucky Grandma. Her Grandma told both sad and happy childhood stories from the early 1900s in Saskatchewan which are still currently relevant. Grandma Pearl shared Métis and Indigenous wisdom and stories. Her childhood memoirs are weaved into the 1980 and 2021 stories as Mary comes of age in Vancouver, BC.

3) It is a Métis teenager’s journey of overcoming personal grief, witnessing the pain of others and experiencing the healing power of a Grandma’s love. While some of their stories are harshly realistic it is uplifting because instead of succumbing to self-pity the characters toughly rise above difficult situations with courage and help from each other.

Indigenous Perspectives on Sacred Water

by Rita Jasper, posted in Mary and her Metis Grandma, Uncategorized

I’ve attended various Indigenous events for personal growth and as research for Mary and her Metis Grandma (novel); the one that blew me away was a Water Ceremony. I’ve pulled some quotes from Lisa Yellow-Quill, from Moon Water, a documentary about the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. I’ve also learned a traditional Indigenous perspective about rivers and our veins from Douglas Bonaise, at an environmental event.

Lisa Yellow-Quill talks about water and Mother Earth at Trout Lake BC.

Indigenous Water Ceremony

Many cultures have water ceremonies. Lisa Yellow-Quill, a First Nation lady, conducted one for women. Click the link below to view the video (https://youtu.be/i8-km0ZaCHs?si=Php87mT4DzUHNIW5&t=163 ) and the button at end of post to read the PDF.

Veins as Rivers and Treaties

Douglas Bonaise, an Elder from Treaty Six, at an environmental event, talks about the veins that run through our body as rivers. Click link below to view video https://youtu.be/W91_XZK_jAM?si=ehrvAYbzmnXD5Zk2&t=111 . Click the button at end of post to view to read the PDF.

Small river runs through a forest.
click this button to read PDF

Opposition to Residential School Survivor Denialism 

by Rita Jasper, posted in Mary and her Metis Grandma, Residential School, Residential Schools

The places where children are believed to be buried cannot be disturbed because the Nation from which the child originated cannot be identified. Some protocols must be followed before exhuming what remains of the little sacred bodies; each Nation has different rules for disturbing the deceased. Because of this, it is hard to prove how many children are buried at the Kamloops Residential School.

Before this secret Kamloops graveyard, anonymous burial sites were documented by the University of Saskatchewan in 1974. A cairn, pictured below, erected at the Battleford Industrial School was placed at the cemetery after a total of 72 graves were excavated by staff and Archaeology students from the University of Saskatchewan. Back in 1974, the Indigenous people didn’t have the political strength to oppose the excavation like the current Nations surrounding Kamloops.

There are too many possible mass graves to mention, so lastly, I will mention only two more of many mass graves of disrespect.
1) Lemay Forest, Manitoba, contains an unmarked mass burial ground for Indigenous, Metis, and European children from the Asile Ritchot orphanage (or Asile Rache). Our parents told us to walk “in a graceful manner”, with kind, loving thoughts, because you never know when you might be walking on someone’s resting place — their grave.

2) Magdaline Laundries originated in Europe but were adopted in Canada. While it was touted as safe places for young women who had made bad choices, they were workhouses providing free labout to the churches that operated them. In Europe, one of these church businesses decided to sell some land and asked a man to move some burried boxes to another location. He discovered that there were skeletons in the boxes and reported it.

Image from (Ben Feist) CBC News · Posted: May 24, 2017 4:00 AM PDT | Last Updated: May 24, 2017

Stone cairn with plaque for unmarked graves of children in Saskatchewan, Canada

Dr. Bryce, Government Medical Inspector for Residential Schools

From a newspaper article, Saturday Night, Bryce said:

“Indian residential schools should compel the attention of Parliament. Indian boys and girls are dying like flies in these situations [Residential Schools] or shortly after leaving them….” Click button below to read more details.

Life at Residential Schools for Indigenous Children

After the Department of Indian Affairs ignored Dr. Bryce’s report, he published his own book, The Story of a National Crime. It detailed how the churches, with government approval, purposefully ignored the health issues resulting from unsanitary conditions and even an electric chair which was used for discipline. Click button below to read more details.

Survival Rate for Indigenous Students at Residential Schools

Bryce predicted that the death rates associated with residential schools were much higher than initially believed, closer to 42% after carefully analyzing the data he gathered. Accordingly, only 58 [or 58%] of  100 children and youth who attended the residential school would eventually be reunited with their families.

Click here for more details from Mary and her Metis Grandma

If you are specifically intrerested in Dr. Bryce’s book click this link. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aqOakvnjg6cHEL29fQwyB4GM83bazFO3?usp=sharing

Indigenous Elders, Teressaa and Melvin Sapp Chapter 33

by Rita Jasper, posted in Mary and her Metis Grandma

Teressa and Melvin Sapp PDF Chapter 33 from Mary and her Metis Grandma  

Two Elders, Teressa and Simon Sapp sitting in their living room.

Elders, Teressa & Simon give interview for the novel Mary and her Metis Grandma

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This is a snippet from Mary and her Metis Grandma . This essay describes my feelings before and during the interview with the late Teressa and the late Simmon Sapp. We had talked on the phone many times before meeting in person. She had already won me over with her great sense of humour. During the visit, we talked about their Grandma (Maggie Soonias) who was a dear family friend dof my Grandma. Click above link to read PDF. Happy reading.  #JournoRequest #PR #JornoRequest 

Mary and her Metis Grandma (Novel)

The novel “Mary and her Metis Granda” weaves historical and modern Metis and Indigenous stories together. This is a work of auto-fiction / biography and memoirs resulting in historical literary fiction. There are two sets of memoirs: one from the early 1900s (Grandma) and the other from the 1980s to 2021 (teenager Mary). I’ve embellished and rewritten my Grandmother’s factually correct memoirs and placed them into additional historical and current events. The manuscript is character-driven with honest emotions. Click above link to read PDF

Indigenous Elders

Elders are important because they are knowledge keepers and sometimes different types of Medicine People. The book is a Métis teenager’s journey of overcoming personal grief, witnessing the pain of others and experiencing the healing power of a Grandma’s love. Click above link to read PDF

Indigenous Elders, Teressa and Simon Sapp talk about their Grandma

by Rita Jasper, posted in Mary and her Metis Grandma

I was very lucky to interview two Elders, the late Teressa and the late Simon Sapp, about their Grandma, Maggie Soonias. It warmed my heart to meet these Cultural Workers and to know that their Grandma babysat my Grandma.

Daily Life and Midwife Work of an Indigenous Female Elder of the early 1900s.

In this video, they talk about their Grandma’s daily life and the sacred work she did as a midwife. Maggie Soonias was a traditional Medicine Woman. Click button below photo to view video.

Simon also talks about the type of work he did as a young Indigenous man.

Simon Sapp worked as a labourer, for road constructiion, fixing fences and picking rocks. Click above link to access video.

Teressa and Simon sit in their living room in front of a wall hanging of a family of bears
Click here to view video.

Grandma’s Tea Set

by Rita Jasper, posted in Mary and her Metis Grandma
click here
Prairie Rose Teapot

Reminiscing — Years Later

It is interesting how images can take you back to to other times. In Mary and her Metis Grandma she shared much traditional information when we drank tea. Images can anchor emotions.

Art can move a person emotionally

I wrote a creative prose about a butterfly and a rose. With a butterfly’s farewell touch, a petal falls. It floats to its final resting place on the ground with Mother Earth. The rose remains beautiful, even missing that one petal. To read complete prose chose above button “click here” .

For more Information

For more information Chick the above button (near the tea pot image) that says “Click Here”
or https://www.facebook.com/groups/9213126825374189/posts/23989093370684291/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/themngv/posts/9657027834362807

For easy purchase click the. links below
https://www.amazon.ca/Mary-Métis-Grandma-Rita-Jasper/dp/1998779890

https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/mary-and-her-mtis-grandma/9781998779895.html

https://www.strongnations.com/store/12339/mary-and-her-metis-grandma

https://ritajasperart.com/category/mary-and-her-metis-grandma

https://www.tracpac.ab.ca/search/card?isbn=9781998779895&controlNumber=2202714

https://www.harvard.com/book/9781998779895

https://www.prairielights.com/book/9781998779895

Grandma’s beaded Metis infinity necklace

by Rita Jasper, posted in Mary and her Metis Grandma

Necklaces form circles which are important to Indigenouse cultures. They understand that everything is connected — you, me, Morher Earth and Father Sky. The Metis adopted the infinity symbol because they believed their culture and people would survive forever. Below is Grandma Pearl’s necklace with the Metis infinity symbol.

click here

Mary and her Metis Grandma

Pocahontas — An Untrue Stereotype 

In Mary and her Metis Grandma, my Grandma Pearl explained the true story about Pocahontas and other steryotypes. Needless to say, I did not dress up as Pocahontas for that or any other Halloween. That year I went as a hippie with peace signs painted on my cheeks and an old necklace with the peace symbol for a pendant.

Meeting Indigenous Elders

When researching for Mary and her Metis Grandma, I went to meet some Elders, Teressa and Simon. As we drove to Little Pine Reserve we stopped at different places to purchase gifts for them; giving a gift shows respect and appreciation for their knowledge. I gave her a necklace with an abalone pendant shaped into the image of a wolf. She loved it. Her immediate reaction was to put the necklace on, and her joyous excitement was rubbing off on me. It took away my nervousness and gave me confidence.

Mary’s Painting gives Grandma Cause for Pause

by Rita Jasper, posted in Mary and her Metis Grandma

I produced this painting about two years before I wrote Mary and her Metis Grandma. However, while I was writing the novel, I decided to make the main character a painter and I included this painting in the manuscript.

Painting of a Pregnant woman birthing

As I helped Grandma up from the bench on the balcony, she glanced at my painting. “Do I see a pair of legs in there? And those look like breasts?” I tensed with a question. I wonder. What does Grandma think about naked legs and breasts? Instead of asking that question, I sheepishly smiled and said, “Yes.” 

Grandma just said, “Hmm, interesting.” 

Passion and Desire

Grandma sat up straight with that little smile she would have when she was feeling proud or accomplished. “Good idea, Mary. That’s usually what I say. You’ve exhausted me.” I kissed her on the cheek. Before we went to our separate bedrooms, she smiled and added, “I’ll always be there for you.”

Hmm. I kept my thoughts to myself. That’s nice of you to say Grandma but you aren’t going to be around for long.

From that day on, I started to see the world differently. I understood the difference between passion and desire. Desire is like wanting a cookie, but you’re not likely to jump off a bridge to get it. Passion is something that you care about deeply and is not a passing thought — being passionate about something is when you spend a great deal of energy achieving it and you might jump off a bridge to get it but hopefully you do not. Passion sometimes causes you to make sacrifices for it.

Links to book sellers

https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/mary-and-her-mtis-grandma/9781998779895.html

https://amazon.ca/Mary-Metis-Grandma-Rita-Jasper/dp/1998779890

https://www.strongnations.com/store/12339/mary-and-her-metis-grandma

https://ritajasperart.com/category/mary-and-her-metis-grandma

https://www.tracpac.ab.ca/search/card?isbn=9781998779895&controlNumber=2202714

https://www.harvard.com/book/9781998779895

https://www.prairielights.com/book/9781998779895

Mary and her Metis Grandma — dream about the death of a mother

Featured by Rita Jasper, posted in Mary and her Metis Grandma

The dream is a premonition about how her life was going to change. It is told through the life of trees.

Video about a teen ager’s dream

This is a segment from the novel “Mary and her Metis Grandma“. Mary talks about when her late mother came to her from the other side in a dream and shares what her mother said. What other ways can one communicate death to young people?

Other ways to discuss death

I find that connection to nature and animals helps young people relax in times of loss. This book is for 11 year-olds to 80 plus. Please note Rita Jasper copyrights the words. I hope you enjoy this gentle video. ritajasperart.com

My Heart — a guilty heart

by Rita Jasper, posted in Diary, Mary and her Metis Grandma

I wrote this poem when I was in my 20s. The inspiration for the poem was due to someone I loved who, unbeknownst to me, was using; I knew he was suffering, but I didn’t know why. Years later, I realized the poem could be about me. In the novel, Mary and her Metis Grandma, the teenager, Mary, must deal with survivor’s guilt, as I did.

This is a reflective song with a haunting melody sung by a female vocalist (unknown). The lyrics are emotionally powerful and soul-stirring. The copyright of the words belongs to Rita Jasper. 

Have you heard about the movie White Men can’t Jump?

Well, guess what — this Metis can’t sing (ha ha),
so the voice and music are AI-generated by Mureka.

FYI, I am no longer an impenetrable stone. I have risen above the traumas of life, and so can you.
@Ritajasper

Please see lyrics below & check back for upcoming video.

Please check back as I will put a video to this song. Thank you for taking time to view this post.

POEM My Heart — a guilty heart

My heart  —  a guilty heart

with time…

Became poisoned in a river that bubbled bittersweet wine.

The mind and soul of my heart went through life in a drunken stupor.

I, the little one who belonged to that heart, didn’t realize the eroding, the tearing apart,

the stupid games being played with my guilt-ridden tormented heart.

My heart drifted and drifted.

It wound here and there.

It couldn’t decide where,

Eventually, it found its way to the falls.

And down the cascading falls, it fell in what was years…

of old abandoned tears.

Its mind was dead, and the soul of the heart had been washed away; so now what was left?

So now what was drifting down that river?

It was a heart, but alas the heart was only driftwood.

It seemed to have drifted forever, hoping to find a home,

Any home.

It did, but too late because this heart that changed to driftwood had by then turned to

stone.

It rests now on a forlorn shore.

Sadly, it’s not alone.

The only comfort my heart now knows is

the caressing water

and

The company of other impenetrable stones.

https://www.mureka.ai/song-detail/FYWMY1MEnpSAaU57ZprH8j?is_from_share=1

Mary and her Metis Grandma 2 Pager

by Rita Jasper, posted in Mary and her Metis Grandma

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