[cheering & applauding]
This community makes up one of north america's
Oldest and largest metis communities,
Made up primarily of descendants of the
Original metis families that settled here in the mid 1800s.
The og metis.
[laughing & cheering]
This community is credited with keeping the traditional
Metis language alive — michif.
Mostly french, but many people here speak english and
The pronunciation of various things, i—
It's all over the map a little bit, to me.
You guys don't say bombardier ["bom-bar-dee-yay"].
You say "bom-ba-deer".
People who will say "por-tij" rather than portage ["por-tazh"]
Even the name of your town,
I've heard st. Laurent ["lo-ra"] and I've heard st. "lo -rent".
[laughing]
Anyway, I'm not gonna get hung up on it.
But hey, listen, you say "lo-rent," I say "lo-ra".
Let's get some "bombadeers", go for a jaunt.
Or I'm sorry, a "ja".
[laughing]
When you grew up in a small town in newfoundland,
You see the people have a sense of humor about hard times.
Check. Check.
I turned that into a career and hit the road.
Mr. Jonny harris!
Now I'm on a mission to find the funny in the places you'd
Least expect it— canada's struggling small towns.
Towns that are against the ropes, but hanging in there.
Still laughing in the face of adversity.
This is st. Laurent, manitoba.
♪
[cheering & applauding]
I see these flags everywhere I go.
I love this flag, the metis flag.
The blue with the white infinity symbol.
I love how that— I could go on and on forever.
[laughing]
On may 31st, 2011,
Record high waters and gale force winds
On lake manitoba caused massive flooding here...
Forcing a total evacuation of the town.
I met a woman who missed st. Laurent so much
That she felt bereaved...
But returned to be reeve of st. Laurent.
Cheryl smith.
[cheering & applauding]
The metis people of st. Laurent are the
Largest metis community in canada.
Cheryl told me that the metis nation was formed
When european trappers, mostly french,
Moved west into this area and
Married and began families with indigenous women.
The four main contributing people's being
Cree, ojibwe, french, and scottish.
Eventually a nation arose, and that's the metis nation.
And I think the metis have done well.
I feel like you've inherited
The most attractive parts of all these peoples.
[cheering & applauding]
Seriously. In appearance,
From the indigenous side, the dark eyes,
The naturally smooth complexion.
You wouldn't believe how much makeup I'm wearing right now.
[laughing]
The language — michif — mostly french,
Widely regarded as a very sensual tongue.
And from the scottish you got—
[laughing]
Hang on now, okay, we'll come back to this.
We'll come back to that, okay.
So, you've lived here your whole life.
Yes, I was born and raised here.
And so were my mum, my dad, my grandparents.
My mom and dad had 12 kids and, out of those 12 kids,
The majority of them live in st. Laurent.
Cheryl's mother was a bookkeeper.
Her father, a commercial fisherman.
And she was one of 12 children.
And that wasn't uncommon.
She said large family— it was the same way in newfoundland.
This is what happens when fishermen don't have a quota.
[laughing]
She said when she was young, they had no running water
Up 'til she was 6 years old. 12 kids, no running water.
- Lots of breaking water. - [laughing]
Sorry, I mean lots of water breaking.
But if she wished her house had running water in it, well,
Careful what you wish for.
In 2011, the flood hit, and it hit hard.
They had predicted 100 kilometre winds straight west.
And they were gonna be sustained winds.
Cheryl said the wind was coming off lake manitoba
Reaching gusts of 100 kilometres per hour.
I had a 6-foot dike around my home.
You know, the lake kept going up, kept going up.
She said people had fish in their homes.
And that's not the way you do it here, right, when you guys
Find fish from the lake, you do takeout, not delivery.
You want your perch poached not porched.
[laughing]
So, my husband and I moved to, to winnipeg.
We were out 13 months.
And, my husband, he said, "oh my goodness, cheryl,
You're like a fish out of water".
And I said, "I know." [laughing]
After the government gave the okay to move back in,
Cheryl and her family were among the first.
They wanted to encourage other families to move back.
But not everybody did.
This is my home here.
I had to raise it almost 6 feet after the flood.
She said people had lost trust in the lake,
Which is sort of a heartbreaker.
It was really an ordeal, but we did it and it took time,
But we got it back to some feeling of home.
But cheryl said there was no question.
She said she had to move back.
She said, you know, this was where she was raised,
Where she raised her children.
She said, "this is where home is".
Come to think of it, I guess this is also where
She raised her home.
[laughing]
[cheering & applauding]
When I asked my producers if I could speak with someone with
Expertise about the metis culture, one of them said,
"sure, how about a curator from the smithsonian?"
I said, "okay, no need to be sarcastic".
[laughing]
But she wasn't being sarcastic.
I got to talk to you jacinthe lambert.
[cheering & applauding]
Jacinthe told me that in 2000, the smithsonian institute
Created the national museum of the american indian.
And they reached out to indigenous groups
All across the americas.
They wanted to include a metis community,
And they decided to pick st. Laurent.
They were interested in st. Laurent because people here
Are living a contemporary version of
How they've always lived.
The metis people are still doing what they did,
You know, the fishing, the language.
We speak michif.
It's the same way of life that they've had
For many, many years.
Jacinthe was chosen to represent the community
As a co-curator.
She invited people from the smithsonian to come here,
And they did.
They came to our winter festival.
And we had this parade with about 45 bombardiers.
They loved it. It was awesome.
They were impressed by everything,
Especially when they laid eyes on one of your legendary
Ice fishing machines, the "bombadeer".
They loved it, and they said,
"you have to send it for the exhibit."
So, my husband and I, we loaded it on a trailer,
And we took off.
People would drive alongside of us taking pictures and,
That was amazing. Then we got there.
It was unbelievable, we drove in there by the museum.
And the people were waiting for us.
They were all over the place. They were on the roof.
It was like little kids, you know,
They were just so excited to see this thing.
She said when they got there,
The exhibit wasn't even open yet.
It was just employees there.
They were given a hero's welcome.
People wanted to see this crazy machine show up.
They were fascinated by it. I think that's very cool.
I think, you know, at the smithsonian,
The world's largest complex of museums and research
Facilities for promoting science and culture.
That even there, people still just want to come out
To the parking lot to see your sweet ride.
[laughing]
Because of the bombadeer, we ended up with
900 square feet of space because we needed the room,
So everybody else got a smaller part.
- Right, right, right. - So, we had the biggest.
The bombadeer ate into the space of other people's.
I don't know if that caused any issues.
I wouldn't want to be the guy who's telling the navajo
They can't sit up their weaving loom because the
Metis brought a friggin' snow machine.
[laughing]
80,000 people, including indigenous groups from across
The americas, attended the opening festivities.
Jacinthe said that the amount of support they were shown
Was nothing short of emotional.
We were proud, you know,
The metis people of st. Laurent, manitoba.
She said during the exhibit at the smithsonian,
There was a new pride. You know, people said,
"we're in the smithsonian. We are metis".
And the metis exhibit was in place for 10 years,
Actually 11 years.
You got a one year contract extension.
And for 11 years, people could go to the smithsonian.
They could learn about metis culture.
They could see the bombadeer,
And look at interviews with fishermen, and trappers.
And musicians, and dancers,
And hear the michif language spoken.
I think it's amazing that you can see interviews with people
From st. Laurent, not only at the smithsonian,
But after this airs, on cbc gem.
Both equally amazing.
- [cheering & applauding] - both equally amazing.
♪
I met a gentleman who says he's not much good at
Playing the fiddle, but when he hears metis music,
He likes to join in with his recorder...
Music archivist and the first metis lieutenant governor
Of manitoba, the honorable yvon dumont.
[cheering & applauding]
Yvon was born for public service, okay.
He was designated secretary treasurer of the
Manitoba metis federation at the age of 16.
I was active in the community at a very young age.
We had a metis local here called
L'union nationale mestisse.
And I was nominated to be secretary treasurer,
And I got elected.
Like, that's a pretty officious title to hold
At the age of 16, right. It's like...
[knocking]
"yvon dumont, secretary treasurer of the manitoba metis
Federation, please report to the principal's office".
[laughing]
"we need to talk about allocating funds for cultural
Initiatives and about your gum chewing, young man".
[laughing]
I represented the metis at the first minister's conferences
That led up to the charlottetown accord.
Not long after, I got a call from the prime minister and
He asked me if I want to serve as
Manitoba's lieutenant governor, so I accepted.
And as I traveled around the country, I,
I met a lot of metis people.
I also ran into a lot of musicians,
And when there was music, that brought up that spirit of,
Of, of the people.
Yvon said he always loved metis music.
He loved hearing it, he loved talking about it.
But he felt he could never properly share it because
There were no recordings.
He got sick of saying to people,
"oh, the music and the dancing.
You should have seen it".
I went to visit people in their homes and their kitchens and
Their living rooms and recorded them playing the fiddle and,
Singing songs and so on.
And it's no longer just in my head.
He told me about the red river jig,
Which is like the national anthem of the metis people.
And here's where we see some of the scottish influence.
The scottish would come around and the metis would hear that,
The bagpipe, and they got a kind of a different drone to them.
And so, for the red river jig, the big string on the fiddle—
In those days— they tried to tune it to the sound
Of the of the, of the bagpipe.
Some fiddlers, they would take the low string on the fiddle
And tune it down slightly out of tune,
And that would sort of emulate the drone of a bagpipe.
It's pretty brilliant.
I don't know who the first person to think to do that was,
You know what I mean. "just hang on,
See if this sounds anything like a bagpipe.
Okay, alright, let me try".
[droning] "rrrr."
Yeah, it really does, you nailed it. Great.
We were at a metis gathering,
And you could hear him tune his fiddle different.
You knew that the next tune was going to be the red river jig.
Oh, right.
- Right? - Yeah, yeah.
I guess it's a bit like going to a beach boys concert.
You see john stamos come out and you're like,
"oh my god, kokomo, just watch".
"they're gonna do kokomo". 'cause john stamos—
[laughing]
Yvon said that everybody plays the
Red river jig slightly differently.
♪ [fiddle] ♪
And on the fiddle for us was brendan chartrand.
♪
And he said, "I play it in a standard tune.
I don't play it with the, you know,
The note lower down to sound like a bagpipe".
I said, "that's fine".
[laughing]
But it was great to see the footwork and the
Sashes and the skirts.
And they had to coax him a little bit,
But eventually the dancers got yvon to get up.
He showed us some steps.
But he tried to tell me he couldn't dance.
Well, let me tell you, mr. Speaker.
[laughing]
The representative from st. Laurent has the floor.
He was doing some moves— I didn't want to get up
Because after watching yvon, I was like,
I can't second that motion.
[cheering & applauding]
♪
The commercial winter fishery in st. Laurent relies heavily
On these 70, 80 year old bombadeers.
And nobody knows more about keeping them running than the
Owners of big interlake mechanical,
Wayland mckay and jessica chartrand.
[cheering & applauding]
Wayland and jessica both have roots in st. Laurent and
Decided to move back here when they were starting a family.
Jessica said that this place was the place that
Always felt like home.
The place where your people are, where your family are,
That's your best chance of free babysitting.
[laughing]
Everywhere else kind of feels like you're living somewhere.
But when your roots are from here,
When you know that you're from here...
This is home.
So, then we're like, well, what should we do?
And then, like, well, wayland's a mechanic.
So, they bought some land, and they built a garage.
Wayland's been a mechanic for 20 years.
And they sell everything from bait to battery chargers,
Fishing lures to lubricants.
Motor oil, motor oil.
- [laughing] - come on.
And there's quite a variety of things in the garage.
There are snowmobiles and lawnmowers and skid steers.
And of course, a bombadeer.
And I tell ya, it looks like...
A panzer tank had a baby with a volkswagen beetle.
And all they fed it was poutine and steroids.
And they were always very proud of it,
But always wondered where it got those portholes from.
Why are these things still kicking around
After so many years?
Well, they need 'em to be on the ice and to get to
Their nets in very cold weather.
- [laughing] - yeah.
It's a wild-looking machine!
I asked wayland, I said, "what year is it?"
He said, "1945-ish".
[laughing]
Postwar, but barely.
But it's hard to tell, you know.
He said, "it doesn't have tags. It doesn't have a vin."
You can't even really tell from the parts—
They've all been replaced.
This particular one I was looking at, like,
The sunglasses holder...
Is an empty beans tin...
[laughing]
That I estimated to be just post chef boyardee.
[laughing]
But they all have these different bits and bobs.
Actually, this one had a sunroof.
[laughing]
And wayland said, "that's not a sunroof."
He said, "if you go through the ice,
That's an escape hatch."
I said, "well, I don't see why it can't be both, but..."
[laughing]
I had a million questions for wayland about the bombadeer.
And of course, the main one was...
Can I drive it? And he said, "yes."
Oh, geez!
[laughing] it's got good traction.
Oh, geez.
Yeah, you just gotta ease into it.
Ease into it, okay.
He let me drive it, and I floored it!
We must have been going, what— 140, 150 feet per hour.
[laughing]
That's basically how fast you go.
It was a lot of fun until we had to head back.
She doesn't have power steering.
It's got the turning radius of a battleship.
But then I thought, I guess if you're out on a frozen lake,
Turning isn't really a big part—
Hell, driving in the prairies,
Turning is not really a big priority.
[laughing & applauding]
♪
Winter fishing on lake manitoba is a trade handed down
From generation to generation.
I don't want to sound cold, but you guys have ice in your veins.
[laughing]
I went down to the lake, and I had a chat with an ice fishing
Father who was handing the line over to his son.
I'm talking about tony and jp carrier.
[cheering & applauding]
My dad was a fisherman.
And all my brothers, they're all fishermen.
Is this sort of what you envisioned
That jp would be doing as well?
No, I told him to find himself another career.
[laughing]
Jp took his advice: He went off to university.
Worked a number of different jobs,
But came back to do this because he loves it.
I just like fishing, I like being outside.
There's no bosses, there's no...
Hours, just go out and fish.
He said, "well, you know, it's not a typical work schedule.
There's no bosses, no set hours.
You're just, you know, out fishing with your family."
And I thought, "geez, that sounds pretty good."
- "what's the catch?" - he said, "mostly pickerel."
[laughing]
The last six, seven years, it's been real good.
There's good money to be made.
More people are getting into it.
♪
- So, that's the jigger? - Yeah.
That looks more like a toboggan.
[laughing]
Setting the nets is an interesting process.
♪
You drill a hole in the ice.
Ready?
You take the jigger, and you slide it down into the hole.
And then, you get it under there.
And then you take a rope and pull it this way,
And the jigger goes that way, somehow.
[laughing]
Are you trying to get to go in a particular direction?
Yeah, yeah, I want it to go over there, so...
This jigger, this contraption is a bit like the bombadeer.
Sometimes the older gear is still the best gear.
I mean, this is a design that's been around
Since the early 1900s.
Still, you've never had to rejig it.
[laughing]
♪
I tell ya, the bombadeer beasts live on.
And at least now there's a place to get them
Tuned up in town.
You could drive one to the gig and do the red river jig.
It's just as fun without the fiddle tuned down.
[laughing]
A decade in the smithsonian brought a new sense of pride.
The metis felt a shift.
Around here today you'll hear parents say,
They hope their kids get into michif.
[laughing]
Like the wicked witch of the west,
You're worried about water.
Your trust in the lake was thrown.
But it seems to be instead, you're more like dorothy,
Who said, "well, you know, there's no place like home".
Fishing and fiddles at least, it's much like down east,
Where I'm headed now.
But it's been great to know ya and to go for a jaunt around
St. Laurent and on the ice of lake manitoba.
Thanks for coming out, everybody.
You've been fantastic, thank you!
[cheering & applauding]
Jonny had st. "lo-rent" or st. "lo-ra"
Flooded with laughter tonight.
It was great.
That's a pickerel.
Oh, look at that.
The way you talked about our community, what a good feeling.
- You want to try and pull it? - Sure.
It gets really hard here, at the end.
Okay, well, never mind.
[laughing]
You could just tell that he was interested in everything that
He saw while he was here.
So, you're gonna start with your right foot.
You kick out...
Then you go down one.
Okay, start again, start again.
Jonny is a comedian, but he's also a thinker and
Maybe made our people realize that, yeah,
We are unique, and we should be proud of it.
Now you know the basic stuff already.
Hey, there we go.
The metis pride.
[laughing]
[speaking michif]