St. Albert’s Métis museum has turned 20, and it’s inviting everyone to a year-long party to celebrate.
Formerly known as the Michif Cultural and Resource Institute, Michif Cultural Connections officially opened its doors in October 2003, the Gazette’s archives show.
The museum’s board has planned a year-long celebration to mark the occasion, with different events each month, said Michif board treasurer Patty Anderson. First up is a party on Feb. 10 to celebrate the birthday of the museum’s founder, former senator Thelma Chalifoux (whose actual birthday was Feb. 8).
“We’re going to be having jiggers here, and tea and cake,” Anderson said, as well as an open house.
There might be a speech at some point, but expect a pretty casual get-together, said board member Sharon Morin.
“Mom (Thelma Chalifoux) was all about having people over for tea to visit, so that’s what we’re going to do.”
While the party is open to the public, Anderson said guests should RSVP to the Michif so organizers know how much cake to bake.
While she didn’t want to reveal the museum’s full plans for the year, Anderson said next March will see the Michif host a beading circle and an Easter egg hunt.
Cultural connector
The Michif’s roots date back to Chalifoux’s time as consultant based in St. Albert, Morin said. Chalifoux had a large collection of books and artifacts related to the Métis in Alberta, and would use them in presentations on Métis culture at events across Alberta. When she was appointed to the Senate in 1997, Chalifoux chose to keep her office in St. Albert because of the community’s roots in Métis history.
In around 2003, as Chalifoux approached the age of mandatory retirement as a senator, Morin said several St. Albert community leaders (including former mayor Paul Chalifoux) encouraged Chalifoux to stay in town.
“Mom was like, ‘Well, I don’t have a budget anymore,’ and they said, ‘What about Juneau House?’”
Formerly the home of the Arts and Heritage Foundation, Juneau House is a historic building on the corner of Madonna Drive and Mission Avenue that had been vacant since August 2002 because of poor ventilation, Morin said. Once the ventilation issues were resolved, Chalifoux moved in and officially opened the Michif on Oct. 18, 2003.
Morin said Chalifoux modelled the Michif after a similar centre run in Edmonton by Métis scholar Dr. Anne Anderson in the 1980s. The museum was named after the official language of the Métis, Michif, which Chalifoux was interested in preserving.
The museum soon started offering courses in various aspects of Métis culture and became a focal point for Indigenous education in St. Albert, the Gazette’s archives show. The Michif helped the City of St. Albert host its first Métis Week celebrations in 2004 and its first National Aboriginal Day event in 2009. 2010 saw the Michif help the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology develop its first online Indigenous awareness course. The Michif was temporarily homeless in 2015 because of renovations to Juneau House, but moved back into its old digs in late 2016.
The Michif Institute changed its name to Michif Cultural Connections in mid-2017 due to regulatory changes around the use of the word “institute,” Morin said. Chalifoux died that September, but the museum soldiered on. The pandemic saw the museum go international by hosting online lessons on Michif.
Today, the Michif hosts a variety of in-person and virtual courses related to Métis culture and history. Morin said the museum has no plans to leave Juneau House (especially not now that there’s a big commemorative postage stamp of Chalifoux on the side) and hopes to continue to help people connect with Métis history.
“We just welcome people to come and explore.”
Visit the Michif Cultural Connections Facebook page for details on the Feb. 10 celebration.
