Fine red threads: Dislocation and identity in Lisa Bird-Wilson's 'Just Pretending'

The official territorial acknowledgement of the University of Manitoba begins by stating where we are: Treaty One territory, the traditional lands of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and the homeland of the Metis nation. While this is an acknowledgement of fact, the final phrase, "the homeland of the Metis nation," enters into heated current discussions about who, in fact, is Metis, and where that identity is located. According to Statistics Canada, "the number of people calling themselves Metis soared nearly 150 per cent in Quebec and 125 per cent in Nova Scotia from 2006-2016," and "dozens of new Metis organizations cropped up over the same period" (Bundale 2018).1 This rise, based on individual self-identification and tenuous genealogical research, coincides with court rulings guaranteeing Metis people hunting rights and other "benefits."2 Against such individual claims, the struggles of Metis people in Western Canada for recognition and reconciliation emphasize the importance of kinship and community in determining identity and belonging. My consideration of Metis writer Lisa Bird-Wilson's short story collection Just Pretending picks up these two strands: what home is, and what it is to be Metis. Both of these questions permeate Bird-Wilson's stories, and are continually linked in ways that show them to be inseparable. These stories contribute to current discussions of how Metis-ness is defined by suggesting that genetics is not enough, and that Metis-ness has to incorporate kinship as well as genealogy. The "fine red threads" that Bird-Wilson describes and creates are not only veins, but also storylines connecting and strengthening both individuals and the community in the creation of a meaningful homeland.