Dear Muscowpetung Community

We were so happy to have had the opportunity to present some of our findings about the chiefs last September, and to introduce ourselves and our work to the community. But not being on the ground, it’s been hard for us to gauge your reaction or have any idea how far the message went. And so, as part of getting the word out with the hope of engaging as many people as possible to participate, we thought it might be a good idea to create a Question and Answer section to give anyone who missed us at the Cheekuk Unveiled event last fall a chance to learn more.

Question: What is Joan Holmes & Associates researching for Muscowpetung Saulteaux Nation?

Answer: We are gathering information, about people, history and the land. We are using the written records that are available, whatever survives, but it is vital to talk to the community, to gather the knowledge that’s already there and put it all in one place so everyone can access it. This way the community’s voice is not only preserved but it also shapes the story and connects future generations to their ancestors.

We are not trying to take anything that isn't meant for us to know. What we mean is, the learning we get from listening to you, it's for you. It's you guiding us in how best to help you. We have heard over and over there is a fear that important knowledge will be lost, and we know that in the modern world, people don't have the same kind of memory that the ancestors had, from listening to the same stories over and over and over. They did not need to write things down. But we do. Because the old way of keeping information alive is disappearing, and so the knowledge is disappearing too. We want to help save what we can.

Question: What are you trying to prove?

Answer: At this point, we are just trying to learn everything we can. There are no right or wrong, or bad or good answers! The point is to get the community engaged, to help us help you create an open, written legacy for the community. Muscowpetung ancestors have played an important role in shaping your lives today, and we want to help outline the background to that.

Question: What is your background?

Answer: We are a private firm that’s been in business over 40 years doing this kind of work. We have extensive experience researching and documenting family histories as well as land claims issues for First Nations across the country. We try to “leave no stone unturned,” to uncover as much information as we can. It’s a bit like being a detective investigating a cold case: many of the people you wish you could talk to are long gone, so you must rely on what survives, whether it’s written records, photos, stories handed down through the generations or other sources.

Question: What makes you different?

Answer: We try really hard not to care what the answer is to any of the questions we strive to answer. Our goal is to shed a light on things by letting the sources we uncover speak for themselves. Sometimes the information is hard to learn, for us and for our clients. Your people have faced a lot of struggles. But unless it's of a personal nature, we don't hide things. We don't gatekeep knowledge.

A lot of the information we find is publicly available, if you know where to look, but that doesn't mean it's easy to find. Because it's hard to find, we gather it all into a collection that goes with the report we are writing, so people can see where it's coming from and develop their own opinions. We are not trying to argue for or against anything, we are just trying to present what we find as transparently and as accurately as possible. If you look at the blog posts you will find that there are links to every source we refer to, so you can see for yourself where the information comes from and make your own opinion about it.

At the end of a project we also make a list of everything that we looked at whether we found something interesting there or not, and that goes with our report as well.

Question: What do you hope to get from the community?

Answer: We are hoping your knowledge guide us. We have found that there are often lots of pieces of information that may not match up, but once you put them all together the big picture becomes clearer. Sometimes mysteries are solved, and the answers can be very surprising. Sometimes you get answers but still end up with more questions than you had at the beginning. But that is great! Conversations bring people together.

Question: What about my privacy?

Answer: Like the way a journalist protects their informants, if someone wants to share something but feels uncomfortable about putting their name on it, we will keep their identity confidential. People can also share information anonymously on the website's survey.

Question: What if I have something to say that goes beyond the questions being asked?

Answer: We are more than happy to talk to anyone who feels like sharing more, and we are easy to get in touch with. If you want to have a long conversation, we will have to set up an appointment time for an oral history interview.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, hope to see you at the upcoming Honouring Our Past Traditional Pow Wow from August 19-21, 2025, where we hope you will come by and have a chat with us and maybe even book an oral history interview.

Mīkwēc

Tara and Julia

Tara and Julia at Regina Beach, September 2024.