Werklund School alum honours forgotten histories of the Mountain Métis of Jasper

Many eyes are on the town of Jasper as the post-wildfire rebuilding process begins. Despite all this attention, the history of the Métis families who lived in the region prior to the creation of the national park remains largely overlooked. 

Werklund School of Education alum Adrian Huysman was unaware of this history when he summited Mount Athabasca. An avid hiker, Huysman felt a sense of pride in his accomplishment until he learned of the 13 families known as the Mountain Métis.

Descendants of Indigenous Nations and European fur traders, the Mountain Métis homesteaded in the Athabasca River Valley for over a century. Park acts and additional regulations were used to prohibit Indigenous and Métis communities from settling, harvesting or hunting on the land that eventually became Jasper National Park. Forcibly removed after 1907, they relocated to areas including Edson, Grande Cache, Hinton, Marlboro and Robb, where their progeny can be found today.

This injustice prompted Huysman, BEdP'08, MEd'24, to consider the privilege he experienced as a non-Indigenous individual — the privilege to gain entry to the park simply by purchasing a pass. “I had access to the park, while others did not,” he says. 

“If I'm going to call myself somebody who appreciates the land, then the obvious outcome would be to learn about those missing people's histories. Learning made me want to highlight those families.”

Huysman did so by creating collages from his photos of the mountains and turn-of-the-century images of Métis community members that he accessed through the Glenbow Museum Archives.

“As an artist I couldn't help but see their faces projected on the glacial face and the rocks and the cliff sides. I took those photos and put them over my own as a way to acknowledge that something was missing.” 

Earning permission

Huysman furthered his understanding of Métis culture and history through the Indigenous Education: A Call to Action Master of Education program. Working with Dr. Yvonne Poitras Pratt, PhD’11, professor and UCalgary Research Excellence Chair, along with Indigenous Elders and staff from the Rupertsland Institute, he recognized the importance of earning the community’s permission to use the historical images in his artistic endeavours.  

“In the call to action program, Indigenous and non-Indigenous people share space and truth-telling,” explains Poitras Pratt. “It was in this space of learning that Adrian came to understand his own role in reconciliation through education.” 

With this new perspective, Huysman created a short video titled Home Is Where The Land Is — The Mountain Métis and posted it online. He was pleased by the response it garnered.

“The comments underneath the video filled with descendants from the Moberly families. It was the families running into this content within days or weeks of it being up and then choosing to thank me for sharing.”

“For me, that was more important than the A-plus. It was more important than anything being published. It was more important than walking the stage.”

Poitras Pratt commends Husyman’s resolve to share Indigenous truths.

“Through a commitment to listening deeply to Indigenous peoples and adopting an ethical stance of humility in his role as learner, Adrian was able to bring forth a powerful story of the Jasper Mountain Métis.”

Looking beyond colonial stories 

Huysman brings the awareness he gained in the master’s program and his understanding of Jasper’s complex history into his teaching at Ted Harrison School by including Indigenous voices and creators in his classroom curriculum. He says this allows him to step back and let the artwork or text speak for itself. 

“My job might be in creating an ethical space where Indigenous voices are introduced well.”

His approach to teaching and doing his part to call attention to a neglected piece of Alberta’s history can be summed up in a lesson he learned from the University of Alberta’s Dr. Dwayne Donald. 

“If we leave certain stories out, then we're saying they're not important. And if we tell certain stories with certain limited perspectives, we're saying that's more important.”

Poitras Pratt shares this perspective and says it is critical that media and the public look beyond colonial stories.

“My hope is that Alberta citizens will be given the opportunity to hear truths that have long been silenced. These stories and truths are those that make up these lands we call Alberta.” 

“I encourage everyone to watch this video as Adrian brings his artistic creativity to his reconciliation-themed project and shows us that the current wildfire situation is not the only crisis that this place called Jasper has faced. The difference being that the Jasper Mountain Métis were not welcomed back.”