- October 19, 2021
- 7:00pm CDT
- McNally Robinson
Returning to Ceremony
Spirituality in Manitoba Métis Communities
Returning to Ceremony is the follow-up to Chantal Fiola’s award-winning Rekindling the Sacred Fire and continues her ground-breaking examination of Métis spirituality. Among the Métis, Fiola asserts, spirituality exists on a continuum of Indigenous and Christian traditions, and Métis spirituality includes ceremonies.
Join award-winning author Chantal Fiola for the launch of Returning to Ceremony: Spirituality in Manitoba Métis Communities. This event features a conversation with Laura Forsythe (Faculty of Education, University of Winnipeg).
The launch will be hosted live in the Atrium of McNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Park and also available as a simultaneous YouTube stream. The video will be available for viewing thereafter. Before arriving, please review details of how to attend physical events at the store.
Returning to Ceremony continues Fiola’s ground-breaking examination of Métis spirituality, debunking stereotypes such as “all Métis people are Catholic,” and “Métis people do not go to ceremonies.” Fiola finds that, among the Métis, spirituality exists on a continuum of Indigenous and Christian traditions, and that Métis spirituality includes ceremonies.
Presenters
Chantal Fiola is Michif (Red River Métis) with family from St. Laurent and Ste. Geneviève, MB. She is the author of Rekindling the Sacred Fire: Métis Ancestry and Anishinaabe Spirituality, which won her the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer and the Beatrice Mosionier Aboriginal Writer of the Year Award. Dr. Fiola is an Assistant Professor in the Urban and Inner-City Studies Department at the University of Winnipeg. Chantal is two-spirit, Midewiwin, a Sundancer, and lives with her wife, Nicki, and their daughter in Winnipeg.
Laura Forsythe is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Native Studies at the University of Manitoba and a tenure track faculty member in the Faculty of Education at the University of Winnipeg. Her research Ka-akimaahk lii Michif: Including Métis in Post-Secondary Education focuses on Metis Women’s Roles in Educational Sovereignty as Knowledge Producers in the Academy. Forsythe’s research contributions include numerous edited collections, peer-reviewed publications, academic conference paper presentations, and one of the creators of a Michif Language program at the University of Manitoba.
