Rekindling the Sacred Fire

“Rekindling the Sacred Fire: Metis Ancestry and Anishinaabe Spirituality is a clear work of scholarship. It connects us and it resolves the mystification of colonialism that we labour under.”

– Marilyn Dumont, Lee Maracle, and Garry Thomas Morse, judges, Beatrice Mosionier ‪‎Aboriginal‬ Writer of the Year Award, Manitoba Books Awards

“Chantal Fiola’s first published work, Rekindling the Sacred Fire: Metis Ancestry and Anishinaabe Spirituality, is a pathbreaking work of scholarship that delves into the sorely underexplored relationship between Metis identity and Indigenous spirituality. Both deeply personal and steeped in the experiences of others, this book deftly sidesteps academic obscurantism to emphasize the importance of dialogue and communal relations in defining a path to the sacred.”

– Joanne Kelly, Marjorie Poor, and John Toews, judges, John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer, Manitoba Books Awards

“Rekindling the Sacred Fire provides a marvellous example and model of Indigenized research.”

– Julie Pelletier, Chair of Indigenous Studies at the University of Winnipeg

“Firmly pushes Métis studies forward in ways that intimately integrate Métis sovereignty in ongoing dialogue with those of the Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe, including the Saulteaux, Odawa, and Potawatomi) and Nêhiyawak (Cree).”

– Dylan A. T. Miner, Studies in American Indian Literatures

“A great book in an under researched field.”

– Publishers’ Weekly

“Rekindling the Sacred Fire serves as an excellent, albeit challenging, primer on the who, what and why of the Métis in Manitoba and elsewhere…it manages to raise hackles and goosebumps in turn.”

– Joel Boyce, Winnipeg Free Press

“A seminal work of truly impressive scholarship, Rekindling the Sacred Fire is exceptionally well written, organized and presented. Informed and informative, thoughtful and thought-provoking.”

– Helen Dumont, Midwest Book Review

“Apart from the author’s personal expose on her experience as a Métis person, Chantal reconfirms the real impact that the historical experience of living among the Anishinaabe had upon not only the material culture of her people, but also on how many of them came to view the world.”

– Blair Stonechild, 49th Shelf

“Shows a fidelity to an Indigenous methodology and is an exemplar for how we as historians of education need to revise the narrative to place learners at the centre. We need to hear from Métis learners as they set new points of reference in the history of Indigenous education.”

– Jonathan Anuik, University of Alberta, Historical Studies in Education

“Rekindling the Sacred Fire was good medicine for this Métis woman.”

– Jónína Kirton

“Drawing on Indigenous history, contemporary events, family history, interviews with Métis individuals and her own experiences with reclaiming Anishinaabe spirituality, Fiola elegantly calls for a reconnection between Métis and First Nations and the dismantling of barriers. “

– Lianne C. Leddy, Herizons

“Fiola offers important insights into the dynamic of decolonization, the complexities of ethnicity, and the resurgence of Canada’s Métis people.”

– J.H. Rubin, University of Saint Joseph, CHOICE

“For anyone with questions about Métis identity and the paths we take to discover or rediscover our spirituality, this is a valuable read.”

– Tricia Logan, Royal Holloway/University of London, American Indian Culture And Research Journal

“Rekindling the Sacred Fire takes a reader on a learning journey. It shows a fidelity to an Indigenous methodology and is an exemplar for how we as historians of education need to revise the narrative to place learners at the centre. We need to hear from Métis learners as they set new points of reference in the history of Indigenous education.”

– Jonathan Anuik, University of Alberta, Historical Studies in Education / Revue d’histoire de l’éducation